Flamethrower
by Light Within Darkness
Summary: Naruto and Sakura are traveling a ruined wasteland, on the run from the mysterious Sound Country Research Facility that wants them dead, and trying to find the meaning behind Naruto's strange dreams. Sasuke's a guy with a powerful, broken weapon who brings up more questions than answers. When their paths cross, flames will ignite. SasuNaru. Post-apocalypse!AU
1. Chapter 1 The Journey

**Author's Note: Welcome to my first-ever foray into the Naruto fandom, everyone. The idea for this story was born out of my love for post-apocalyptic literature, where mankind has to rebuild society after some horrible disaster has struck. From that point the story just grew in my mind, so I started to write it down. I hope you all enjoy the fruits of my efforts.  
**

**WARNINGS: There WILL definitely be blood and violence later on in this story, hence the M rating. There will be character death later on as well. If that isn't your thing, you shouldn't be reading this story. This is also a SasuNaru story, and there will be sex between Sasuke and Naruto later on as well. However, sex is not the main purpose of this fic, so there's going to be plot and character build-up first.**

**TERMINOLOGY: You may notice that throughout this story, I refer to the various Lands in Naruto's world by their English names. (For example, Konoha is referred to as Fire Country, etc.) This is because "Flamethrower" takes place across various Lands, and I felt it would be easier to refer to them by their English names rather than their Japanese ones. However, the Hidden Villages are still referred to by their Japanese names (Leaf Village will be called Konohagakure, etc.)  
**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own _Naruto _and I probably never will. ;-; This is a work of fanfiction, and I make no money from writing it.  
**

**This story has been cross-posted to my AFF account, LostinThought8. The link is in my profile.**

**Now, without further ado, the first chapter.**

* * *

He'd been having the same dream for five nights in a row. It was always the same dream, and Naruto always remembered it with perfect clarity upon waking.

He would be on a small island, surrounded by a sparkling blue ocean for as far as the eye could see. It was a particularly fine day outside, and the cool sea breeze wafting through Naruto's hair caused him to sigh happily, unable to remember the last time he had been in such a gentle environment.

In the dream, Naruto would always be walking up to the gate of a small village. Although even minor settlements nowadays always had at least a few guards stationed out front, there were only two people standing before this village's entrance. A man with spiky, black hair, a piece of rope tied around his head like a headband, relaxes against the village wall, a fond smile on his face as he watches a dark-haired and –eyed child wearing a fisherman's hat draw pictures in the sand with a piece of driftwood.

As Naruto draws nearer to the village, the boy, who can't be more than seven or eight years old, drops the wood he is holding and waves to the blond, a broad smile spreading across his face from ear to ear. The man looks up and smiles too, and this is how Naruto knows he is in a dream-no traveler looking to enter a village would ever be greeted so enthusiastically in these times. Travelers were more likely to be met with guards who looked at everyone suspiciously, sullen and angry men who always kept their weapons in easy view.

Yet in this dream, Naruto doesn't worry about why there are so few guards outside this village, or why they're so friendly. A smile of his own spreads across his face and he enthusiastically waves back at both the man and the boy, picking up his pace slightly. Then he turns to grin at his traveling companion, as if to say _See? See? I told you we would make it eventually. We've finally reached a place we can call home now_.

Naruto can never figure out the identity of the person he travels with in his dreams. He only knows that he feels a sense of comfort and security when this person is by his side, as if nothing bad can happen now that the two of them are together. This person is perhaps an inch or so taller than Naruto is, and they match strides easily, walking side by side as if they've been doing it all their lives. But whomever it is Naruto is walking with, he cannot make out their features. It's as if this mysterious person is continually walking under the cover of a dark shadow, which shrouds their face and clothing so that the blond cannot discover their identity. This shadow shifts and moves around the person, wrapping so tightly that no matter how closely Naruto looks, he can't find out anything about his companion's appearance besides their height.

They are almost to the village entrance when the gout of flames erupts from the place where Naruto's traveling companion is standing. Upon waking, Naruto cannot remember if his companion somehow caused the flames to appear or if it was merely coincidence. The only thing Naruto knows is that the fire is frightening-it completely consumes his traveling companion and it _burns_, white-hot and searing against Naruto's own skin. The blond stumbles backwards in his hurry to escape the flames, trips, and falls on his ass, staring up at the crackling, swirling red inferno above him, helpless to do anything as tongues of flame stretch hungrily towards the village. The young boy in the fisherman's hat screams, a high-pitched, wailing cry that young children make when they are afraid, and he is quickly ushered inside the village by the dark-haired man. As Naruto stares at the inferno, which is quickly rising higher than the island's treetops, he knows that the villagers don't stand a chance against the fire. Already their dilapidated driftwood gate is crumbling to ash beneath swirls of orange-red, and the wall is starting to follow. This knowledge curls into something sick and horrible in Naruto's gut, and the blond opens his mouth and screams…

…And this is how he wakes from the dream, every time, jolting straight up into a sitting position from wherever he happens to be sleeping and letting loose a bloodcurdling shout.

Luckily for him, his traveling companion, Haruno Sakura, had started adjusting to the blond's strange dreams. The first few times Naruto dreamt about the island village and woke up shouting, Sakura was instantly alert and drawing her handgun, certain that bandits had come to rob them in the night. Finding out that there were no bandits and that Naruto had just had a nightmare earned the blond a hit on the head from the temperamental young woman. After all, Naruto had potentially just given away their location to any actual bandits.

By now, however, Sakura had realized that the recurring dreams were just one of the many odd quirks that made Naruto who he was. Like the three marks on each of the blond's cheeks that were reminiscent of whiskers, or the black, spiral-shaped markings on his stomach. The dreams were just more annoying, in Sakura's opinion.

At least now it was daylight, Naruto saw, as he rubbed the last of the sleep from his eyes and saw the sun shining in through the crevasses in the roof of the tiny cave they'd taken shelter in for the night. He sat looking at the way the thin, bright yellow beams bounced off of the rocks in the cave for a few moments, turning the dream over inside his head…

"Naruto!" The blond turned his head to see Sakura shouting at him from outside the cave. From the soft crackling and popping sounds Naruto could hear outside, she already had a fire going. He shivered, remembering the dream. "You _scared _me! I nearly spilled our food in the dirt!"

The pink-haired woman stuck her head into the entryway of the cave, fully prepared to yell at Naruto some more for shouting so loudly in the early hours of the morning. However, her bright green eyes softened when she saw the haunted look in her friend's face. "The same dream?" She asked, and Naruto nodded, his jaw tight and his mouth a harsh line.

"How many times have you had it now?" She asked again, but Naruto just shrugged, obviously unwilling to talk about it. Sakura sighed, wishing she could do something to help the blond with his nightmares. She'd been hoping that the two of them would be all right once they'd escaped the Research Facility in Sound Country. They would settle down somewhere in a town far away from that horrible place, find jobs, and live lives relatively free of conflict. However, Naruto didn't seem to be finding any normality even outside of the facility, if these nightmares were any indication.

"You should come outside," Sakura said after a few moments of tense silence. "I'm making breakfast."

Naruto nodded again and crawled out of the cave after Sakura, grabbing his orange jacket off the ground as he went. It felt good to get out of that cramped little space, to stretch his muscles and work out the little kinks in his back. Damn, but did sleeping on the ground with nothing but a jacket between you and the dirt and rocks night after night _suck_.

The air felt warm, bordering on hot, against the blond's face, even at this early hour of the morning. It would be another swelteringly hot day today, and Naruto grimaced at the thought of trudging through the arid, rocky landscape in the heat. He hoped they'd come across some traders today so that they could stock up on supplies, and most importantly on water. The blond certainly wasn't intending to die of thirst in a place like this.

"Sit down and eat," Sakura said, scraping something out of a small clay pot into two bowls. Naruto couldn't help but grin at the smell of hot food. There was nothing like a good breakfast to warm your stomach and chase away gloomy thoughts, he'd learned ever since he was a small boy. However, Naruto's face fell when he caught sight of what was in his bowl.

"Canned beans again?" He complained, wrinkling his nose at what seemed to be the same meal he and Sakura had been eating every day for the past two weeks. "I was kinda hoping we still had some instant ramen left…"

"We ate all the instant ramen when we were going through Lightning Country." Sakura's voice had a warning edge to it, which Naruto had long since learned meant one should start running for cover. "Even if we did have any left, I wouldn't cook it anyway, because might I remind you, Naruto, instant ramen requires _water_. And water's not really something we can afford to waste on cooking food right now, OK?"

Muttering to himself under his breath (so that Sakura couldn't hear, because she was scary when she was mad) about why girls shouldn't be allowed to control the cooking for weeks on end, _especially _if said girls had pink hair, Naruto settled down to eat his beans. As he ate, however, his mind was occupied by a single, stubborn thought. At first the blond tried to ignore it, to push it away-it was a stupid idea, and there was no way Sakura would ever go for it. But there was no way he could ignore these dreams. Not when they kept coming to him this regularly, so clear and vivid inside Naruto's head. He needed to figure out the reason behind them. With this thought firmly in his head, the blond laid aside his half-eaten bowl of beans and looked up at Sakura.

"What's the matter?" Sakura asked. "You haven't finished your food…you aren't feeling sick, are you?" Naruto not finishing his food was an unprecedented event. Even if the meals were nothing but beans for days on end, the blond would practically inhale them with the speed and gusto of a man who hadn't eaten for weeks. Any nearby animals that might have been hoping for scraps were always sorely disappointed.

"Sakura-chan, I want to go to Wave Country," Naruto said, voice more serious than his traveling companion had ever heard it before.

The pink-haired girl wasn't sure what she'd been expecting Naruto to say, but it certainly hadn't been that. For a few seconds she was silent, not quite understanding why Naruto would say such a thing. "Are…are you _crazy_?" She finally said. "Naruto, we need to go someplace _safe_."

"Who says Wave Country isn't-"

Sakura held up her hand, not letting Naruto finish. "Wave Country is made up of a series of islands. _Small_ islands. It has the smallest population out of any of the current Countries. The people there are more likely to ask questions about two new travelers who come looking for work. It would take time for us to find jobs and homes there, and even more time for us to become a part of the community."

"We could do it though," Naruto broke in. "I bet there's plenty of fishing jobs; we could make money doing that-"

"And what if the research facility comes for us before then, Naruto?" Sakura interrupted. "Since Wave Country is small, it won't have the resources for a large military force. If Sound Country decides to send their military after us, in order to take us back to the Research Facility, what do you think Wave Country will do? Fight to protect us, risking the lives of their civilians in the process? Or would they choose to give us up instead?"

Sakura began to busy herself with cleaning up their camp, packing away the dishes and putting the fire out with dirt. "I don't know about you, Naruto, but I'm not going back to that place. We need to continue on to Grass Country, like we originally planned."

Naruto was silent for several long minutes as Sakura packed their things away into the two large knapsacks that now held all of their worldly possessions. The fire had died down to only a few smoldering embers, and soon it would be time for the two of them to get back on the road again. "Sakura-chan, I understand why you don't want to go to Wave Country. You're right, it is taking a risk to go there. So I won't ask you to go with me."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock as Naruto got to his feet and slung his knapsack over his back. "I need to go to Wave Country, Sakura-chan," he continued. "These weird dreams I've been having come every night now. It's getting to the point that I can't get them out of my head even during the day. They take place on an island, so if I go to a Country where there're lots of islands, then maybe I'll find something out. I feel like I won't have peace until I do."

The blond shifted his knapsack on his shoulders and looked back at Sakura, smiling slightly. "It was good traveling with you, Sakura-chan. Take care, and-"

"You _idiot_," Sakura growled out, going up to Naruto and thumping him on the head.

"Owww! What was that for!" Naruto cried out, rubbing at the painful spot on the back of his skull. He even had the nerve to look affronted, Sakura noted, and smacked him again just for that.

"You complete and utter moron!" She cried. "You really think you'd survive a day on your own? When there's bandits and wild animals, and who-knows-what-else on the roads these days? You wouldn't even wake up if they were robbing you blind! Not to mention, your cooking's atrocious and your water would be gone within two hours."

Sakura put on her own knapsack and went to stand next to her blond traveling companion. "It's taking a risk, sure, but I'm going with you. After what happened at the research facility, we're sticking together. No matter what happens."

Naruto looked at her, and the smile on his face at that moment lit up his vivid blue eyes even brighter than the morning sun lit the sky. Sakura couldn't help smiling back.

"Oh, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, and it almost sounded sweet if you weren't listening closely, "it's like we're _married_."

That statement earned him a third hit on the head from his pink-haired companion. "You asshole."

* * *

The cheerful mood of the morning had all but dissipated by that afternoon. The sun was high in the sky and pounding down on Naruto and Sakura in full force, and every step in that arid, soul-sucking heat was harder to take than the last. The two had been traveling at a slower pace the farther away they got from Sound Country, and the horrible Research Facility it had housed and funded. However, Naruto and Sakura both didn't feel it was safe to stop traveling until they'd gotten as far away as humanly possible from that nightmarish place. This was why they were currently going through Fire Country at the hottest time of the day, instead of trying to find some shade and resting until evening.

Fire Country was known for having some of the hottest temperatures in the world, and with a dry, rocky environment to boot. It was no wonder Naruto felt like he was dying with every step he took. He could feel the heat from the dry, cracked earth below him even through the soles of his boots, and his normally messy, spiky blond hair was plastered to the back of his neck with sweat. He had to keep stopping every few steps to wipe it out of his eyes. Sakura didn't look much better. Her normally vibrant pink hair hung limply around her neck, and Naruto could see the sweat dripping from the ends of it, to run down her arms in salty tracks.

Even worse than the heat, for Naruto at least, was the water, or rather, the lack of water. Even though they'd put a fair bit of distance between themselves and Sound Country, Naruto and Sakura had been trying to avoid the towns as much as they could. News could travel quickly between the larger settlements by telephone, in the places where the lines were still maintained. Two people who had escaped from a supposedly secure research facility would be something town guards definitely would be on the lookout for. Up until now, Naruto and Sakura had been replenishing their supplies with traders when they ran into them, and by stopping in smaller towns where it was less likely that people would have heard about them.

Unfortunately, Fire Country made avoiding towns difficult, since all the natural sources of water in the area had at least small settlements built around them. Naruto and Sakura had passed through two towns in Fire Country so far. The two of them had refilled their water canteens and left, not talking to anybody much, and no one had bothered them. They'd also been lucky enough to run into a trader at one point between towns. The man had taken an entire medical kit of Sakura's in exchange for a canteen full of water, but the two of them still counted it as a good trade.

Now, however, Naruto was starting to think that he and Sakura would be in trouble if they didn't come across a town soon. There was a limit to how much water a trader was willing to give you, after all, since it was such a precious resource in Fire Country. A town's pump or well, at least, would let travelers refill their canteens entirely. You had to pay, of course, but the price usually wasn't too bad. The two of them had been drinking as sparingly as they could, considering the heat, but Naruto didn't think that they had enough to last for more than two more days at the most. As it was, the blond's mouth felt as if someone had stuffed a sock into it. His lips were cracked and his throat ached. His mind had struck up a constant mantra of _water_ at some point in the last hour, so that now it was all Naruto thought of with each step he took. _Water…water…water…I need water…_

It was then, at the hottest time of the afternoon, when Naruto and Sakura found the man with the dark hair.

**Author's Note: Reviews are lovely, as always. They make me smile.**

**I have started work on Chapter Two of this fic, but it isn't finished yet. The next update should be in a few days, once I get that done.**


	2. Chapter 2 Sasuke

**Author's Note: This chapter took a lot longer than I thought it would. By the time I reached a place where I felt it would be good to stop, I'd already hit around twelve pages according to Microsoft Word. Sorry for the delay, everyone!**

**This story is still being cross-posted to my AFF account, LostinThought8. You can find the link in my profile.  
**

**WARNINGS: In this chapter, language and very mild references to sexual activities.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own _Naruto_, and I probably never will. ;-; This is a work of fanfiction, and I make no money off of writing it.**

**And now, without any further ado…**

* * *

Naruto felt about ready to fall over from a combination of extreme heat, thirst, and exhaustion when he first saw the man. As it was by now very late afternoon, Naruto at first thought that the patch of darkness lying on the otherwise dry and dusty ground was just an oddly-shaped rock, cast into shadow by the setting sun. But as he and Sakura got closer to it, the blond was able to pick out certain features that definitely did not belong on a rock. Such as arms and legs splayed out from the torso and streaked with reddish dirt; dark-colored hair framing the person's head, and the hem of a shirt stirring ever-so-faintly off of his back…Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, unwilling to get any closer.

"Sakura," Naruto hissed, just loud enough for the pink-haired girl to hear him but hopefully not loud enough for the man lying in the dirt a few yards away to pick up. If he was even still conscious, that was. Sakura had seen the man as well, stopping next to Naruto and fixing a narrow-eyed, suspicious glare at the unmoving body. "What do you think we should do?" Naruto asked.

"Keep moving, obviously," Sakura answered, voice barely above a whisper. Her hand moved towards her right pants pocket in a move that could be interpreted as casual, if Naruto hadn't known that Sakura kept her pistol in that particular pocket. "This is obviously a trap. He probably has a group of people nearby waiting to jump us if we stop. As it is, we'll probably need to fight." Sakura bit her lip, obviously not liking the idea of the two of them having to fight what was quite probably a larger group of people.

Naruto knew that Sakura was probably right. Now that people traveled between towns and settlements in armed groups, it was becoming more and more difficult for bandits and thieves to find easy victims. As Naruto and Sakura had overheard a few people discussing in the places they'd stopped in to get more supplies, many bandit groups had resorted to tricking people on the roads. One of their number would wait by the roadside and pretend to be injured, or a victim of robbery themselves, while the rest hid nearby. When any travelers stopped to help, the rest of the bandits would come out of hiding and proceed to rob these unwary Good Samaritans blind, oftentimes killing them in the process.

Still…Naruto couldn't stop the uneasy feeling in his gut at just leaving someone who was potentially in trouble at the side of the road. What if this time it wasn't a trap? The blond knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep easy at night thinking that he'd just passed a person by on the road who desperately needed help, who might die if nobody else came this way. An image of his now long-dead father came into Naruto's head unbidden, shaking his head in disappointment at his son. That mental image was what decided it for Naruto. Pulling his handgun from its makeshift rope holster at the side of his leg, Naruto made his way towards the unmoving figure.

"Naruto, what the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Sakura cried, catching the blond's arm and making him pause in his tracks…pause, but not stop. "Have you lost your mind?"

Naruto turned to look at the pink-haired girl, and Sakura gasped at the look in her friend's eyes. Naruto's eyes had always been a startling shade of blue, a strange fusion of sea and sky that seemed to go on forever. Even though it sounded cliché, Sakura felt that someone could quite easily get lost in those eyes. And right now, Naruto's eyes clearly told her _"I am going to go help this person, and nothing you can say or do will stop me." _

"What if it isn't a trap, Sakura?" Naruto asked softly. "This guy might actually be in trouble…I'm not willing to take the chance that he's faking."

Sakura could only nod once and release Naruto's arm. The pink-haired girl wasn't without protest, however. As she fell into step beside the blond, pistol in hand, Sakura muttered, "We keep our guns on him until we're sure he's not dangerous, OK? This heat must have made you crazy…"

By then they had traveled the last few yards to the body, and there was no time for further conversation. Sakura, who was the one with medical training, knelt by the man's body to check it over. Naruto crouched nearby, aiming his handgun at the man's forehead and taking the time to observe this new development.

The man was lying on his back, his eyes closed. He was wearing a loose, white shirt that was open at the chest, revealing firm and toned muscles. The guy was obviously in shape, at least, more so than the average traveler. _What were you doing out here that got you into this mess, dude? _Naruto wondered. The man's eyes were closed, and his limbs were messily splayed out away from his body, showing that he had indeed collapsed here at the roadside. The man's hair was long for a guy's. It went down to his chin, and was black as a moonless night. Save for some unruly spikes that stuck up from the back of his head, the man's hair was plastered to his face, head, and neck with sweat. His skin was flushed a bright red, though if it was from the sun or something else Naruto couldn't tell.

What looked like a long, purple rope was wrapped and tied around the man's waist, over a pair of dark grey pants. A knife, easily the length of Naruto's forearm, hung from this strange belt. It looked quite sharp and well-maintained, so Naruto decided to take the weapon away. There was no need for this stranger to suddenly wake up, decide Naruto and Sakura's help was unwanted, and then try to attack them. The man's black hiking boots were coated in a fine layer of dust, so he'd obviously walked quite a ways before collapsing here.

Sakura was in full on Nurse Mode. She'd put her pistol at her side and was now running both hands up and down the man's body, making small noises here and there as she touched the man's chest, opened his mouth, leaned in to listen to his heartbeat. Naruto noticed Sakura's face flush as her hand skirted around his crotch area, and he had to bite back a snigger. This strange man _was_ rather attractive, with his aristocratic face, lean, muscular chest, and angular chin…

Naruto had to shake himself at that. What the hell did he think he was _doing_, ogling an unconscious man in the middle of nowhere? What was he doing ogling a man to begin with, anyway? It wasn't like Naruto had much experience with either sex, seeing as how he'd spent his formative years having his body poked and prodded at, torn apart and put back together again by those bastards at the Research Facility. The blond had suspected for a while now that women didn't really do anything for him, due to the lack of attraction he felt towards Sakura and any other woman he'd been around for longer than a few days. Yet on the other hand, Naruto had picked up from snippets of the doctors' conversations back at the Research Facility that it wasn't considered _normal_ for men to have feelings for other men. So why was he now looking at some stranger by the side of the road as if he wanted to see and touch the body beneath his clothes?

Naruto was jolted out of this train of thought by the stranger's abruptly coming back to consciousness. Sakura had gone to pull back one of his eyelids, but the second she'd brushed her finger against it, both of the man's eyes had snapped open. Naruto and Sakura jumped in surprise, Naruto nearly dropping his gun and Sakura actually letting out a soft yell. The blond found himself staring into the stranger's eyes, which were the same dark, intense black as his hair, for several long seconds before the man spoke.

"Water," he rasped out, his throat sounding worse than Naruto's felt. "I…I need water."

Sakura nodded. She was once again all business. "You're displaying the classic signs of dehydration," she explained. "Flushed and dry skin, dry mouth, a rapid heartbeat…here. Drink." Sakura held her canteen up to the man's mouth.

The dark-haired stranger gulped the water down greedily, and Naruto found himself fascinated by the movements of his throat as he swallowed. "Slowly, now, or you'll make yourself sick," Sakura said sternly. The man obeyed, taking slow, deep swallows of the precious liquid.

When Sakura took the canteen away and did not offer it again, the man sat up straight and wiped the back of his mouth with his hand. "Thank you," he said quietly. His voice, Naruto noticed, was much less hoarse now. It was deep and authoritative, the voice of a man who was used to people listening to him. Naruto found himself leaning forward slightly, becoming more interested in this man by the second. Before the blond could stop himself, the questions came flooding out of him.

"What happened to your water? What are you doing out here? Why are you traveling alone? What's your name?" Naruto almost clapped a hand over his mouth to stop the sudden outpouring of words, feeling suddenly embarrassed for talking so much.

The stranger turned to really look at Naruto for the first time. His dark eyes flashed briefly with an expression the blond couldn't quite catch - Annoyance? Excitement? – before returning to a flat, emotionless stare. "You certainly ask a lot of questions, don't you, dobe?" The man drawled.

"H-Hey!" Naruto cried, the insult catching him off-guard. "We stopped here and helped your ass when we didn't have to. We even gave you some of our water! There's no reason to go around insulting people."

Another man might have apologized, but the dark-haired stranger just continued to stare at Naruto, unruffled. "If you must know, I was robbed during the night," he said. "Bandits took most of my water and food. I was hoping to get to the next town or find a trader or settlement in order to restock on supplies when I collapsed here. May I have my knife back?"

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. The man had regained his lucidity surprisingly fast. Normally people took more than a few minutes to become fully conscious. Naruto should know, he'd seen plenty of people in various states of consciousness at the Research Facility. The blond's eyes narrowed in suspicion at this strange man, but he didn't want to start a fight with someone he and Sakura had just gone to the trouble of saving. So Naruto tossed the knife towards the man, who caught it easily and tucked it safely back underneath his rope belt. The stranger then got to his feet, and that was when Naruto and Sakura saw it.

"It" was a cylindrical container, about the size of a knapsack and made of metal. This was odd in and of itself, as metal was becoming increasingly rare these days. Any available metal almost always went towards making weapons or reinforcing structures. Coiled up against one side of the container was a long, thin piece of rubber, like a makeshift hose. The hose had a metal tip as well, which glinted dully in the light. The stranger had been covering this mysterious object with his body up until now, which explained why Naruto and Sakura hadn't noticed it. Besides, they'd been more interested in the dark-haired man himself, anyway.

"What _is _that thing?" Sakura asked.

"A weapon," the man said shortly, lifting it onto his back with a thick leather strap. "It's called a flamethrower. It aims controlled blasts of fire at opponents."

"Yeah, right," Naruto snorted. "That thing'll shoot fire the same day it snows in Fire Country. Why don't you just tell us the truth? You're an illegal metal trader, aren't you?"

Trading in metal was becoming an increasingly profitable business that was largely controlled by a few, powerful people throughout the world. These powerful people threatened anyone who wasn't affiliated with them, but persisted in trading metal anyway, with a gruesome and painful death. Still, the metal trade was profitable enough that an especially brave trader would risk smuggling a few scraps to a town in order to make some quick money.

The dark-haired stranger, however, gave Naruto a stare that would have caused a lesser man to cringe and scurry away for fear of imminent pain. Naruto, however, met the man's gaze head-on. His own blue eyes met the man's black ones and held them, until the air seemed charged with energy from the quiet clash going on between the two.

Sakura looked nervously between Naruto and the stranger. The way the two of them both looked now, it seemed as if a fight was going to break out any second. The last thing Sakura wanted was someone getting hurt over a hunk of metal. She cleared her throat loudly, causing the two men to stop their staring contest. Now they were both glaring at _her _instead. Just peachy.

"Uhm…I think we should make camp for the night," Sakura said. "It's almost nighttime, after all, and it won't be safe to travel then."

Naruto nodded. "Good idea, Sakura-chan," he said. Without preamble, the blond dropped his knapsack on the ground and began rifling through it for the camping equipment.

Sakura then turned to the dark-haired stranger. He had gone back to glaring at Naruto, but the pink-haired girl thought that his glare held something else besides anger this time…interest, perhaps? She cleared her throat again to get his attention. "Would you like to make camp with us tonight? I want to make sure you're really all right before you go on your way. Besides, you should have a light meal soon. It'll help you regain your strength…" Sakura trailed off as the realization hit that she and Naruto had no idea what this man's name was.

Apparently, the same thought had just struck the dark-haired man. He closed his eyes, as if praying for patience, and then sighed loudly. "Sasuke," he said. "My name is Sasuke."

* * *

Sasuke privately thought that this was the worst mission he'd ever been sent on. Normally, he was sent out to gather intelligence (a.k.a. spy), or eliminate any potential threats in a given area (a.k.a. go out and kill a bunch of people). But having to put up with this blond dobe and his pink-haired friend was enough to set Sasuke's teeth on edge, especially since the dark-haired man had never exactly been what you'd call a "sociable person."

Well perhaps, Sasuke had to (grudgingly) admit, he was being a little unfair. The girl – Sakura, she'd told him as they gathered dried animal dung for the campfire – wasn't exactly a bad sort of person. But it was starting to drive Sasuke crazy, the way Sakura stared at him and then turned quickly away whenever he happened to glance in her direction. The way she blushed and looked away every time their eyes happened to meet over the campfire was especially infuriating to Sasuke. The dark-haired man had no time for relationships, and only ever found it irritating when girls were attracted to him. But Sakura wasn't nearly as bad as the blond.

Ah yes, who could forget that infuriating blond dobe? Sasuke had been given very little information about his target before setting out on the mission. He only knew his target's name, Uzumaki Naruto, and his face, via an old photograph of the blond, which was currently tucked away in Sasuke's backpack. Other than that, the black-haired man had been told that he was to return Naruto to Sasuke's employer, from whom Naruto had run away. Nothing had prepared Sasuke for meeting Naruto in person.

Uzumaki Naruto was, to put it simply, unlike any other person Sasuke had ever met before. He was tall – Sasuke estimated the blond to be only about an inch shorter than himself, and Sasuke was 6'3" – and his body seemed to be made entirely of lean muscle. The blond moved with an easy grace that told Sasuke he knew how to fight. His hair was an interesting shade of golden blond, and was a short, spiky mess atop Naruto's head. Naruto was dressed in a pair of orange and black pants, black sneakers, and a plain black T-shirt, with an orange windbreaker tied around his waist. The three symmetrical scars on each of the blond's cheeks, shaped uncannily like whiskers, were what marked him without a doubt as Sasuke's target. Sasuke had been told specifically to look for those odd scars, as well as the spiral tattoo around the blond's stomach. Not that Sasuke thought he'd get a chance to look for that, however. Normally, people didn't take it well if you asked them if you could take a casual look at their abdomens.

Naruto's eyes, however, were what really fascinated Sasuke. It was rare to see a person with blue eyes in this part of the world, and Naruto's eyes were such an interesting shade. As light from the campfire played and flickered over the blond's face, his eyes would darken to an almost violet, or get lighter until they shone a bright azure in his tanned face. Naruto's eyes seemed as if they could suck a person in and leave them staring forever, captivated by that strange color and the depth behind it.

Sasuke privately thought that if he'd run into Naruto in a town, he probably would have seduced the man, and then taken him somewhere private where they could fuck. It wouldn't be the first time Sasuke had done so with someone who caught his fancy while out and about. But this was different. Naruto was no average citizen, he was a potentially dangerous runaway. Beyond that, he was Sasuke's target. There was no point getting attracted to or getting involved with a target, Sasuke reminded himself harshly.

Sasuke's attraction to his target was somewhat lessened, however, by the fact that Uzumaki Naruto had to be one of the most annoying fucking people on the face of the earth. The blond never seemed to shut up, not even when he had food in his mouth. So far, he had yelled at Sasuke for "making Sakura-chan feel bad." He'd asked even more questions than Sakura had about what Sasuke was doing out here and where he was going. When all of Naruto's attempts at getting under Sasuke's skin were met with silence and glares of an intensity that could kill small children, Naruto had called the dark-haired man "the worst fucking teme I have ever met in my entire life."

Inwardly, Sasuke was warring between his strange physical attraction towards Naruto and a strong desire to tear the blond's fucking head off. Knowing that his employer wanted the blond alive and as unharmed as possible, Sasuke settled for furiously glaring into the half-empty bowl of instant rice Sakura had given him for dinner that evening. At least Naruto seemed to have stopped talking for the moment, in favor of noisily eating the last of his own rice. Disgusting.

"So Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said, her voice trailing off almost immediately. The girl seemed to be walking on eggshells around Sasuke, even besides the blushing. She tripped over her own sentences half the time when she spoke, and with the added influence of Naruto, it was annoying Sasuke far more than it should. "I suppose you'll be going your own way after tonight then? I mean, you seem to be much better now…but in order to make sure, I should check you over one last time before you go…if you want me too, that is." Sakura blushed furiously at the end of this, quickly busying herself with tucking her empty bowl back into her knapsack.

"I'll be glad to see the back of him," Naruto grunted. He burped loudly before tucking away his own empty bowl. Sasuke winced. It wasn't as if he'd never been around people who were rude or ate poorly…but never for more than a few minutes at a time. Naruto's eating behaviors were almost too much, on top of everything else that had happened today.

As much as Sasuke didn't want to spend another second with either of these people (well, that wasn't quite true - he wouldn't be averse to spending more time with Naruto. Alone. And only if the blond was firmly gagged beforehand), but he had no choice if he wanted to complete the mission. The dark-haired man bowed his head, trying to look the part of the desperate traveler in need of assistance that he was supposed to be. "Actually," he said, "I hoped I might be able to travel with you." At this, Sasuke looked up and met Naruto's and Sakura's gazes. The both of them were now looking at him intently, and Sasuke tried to make his face as honest as possible. He didn't want to use his Sharingan contact lenses unless he had to. He'd only just gotten them after all, and didn't want to risk screwing something up.

Naruto opened his mouth, probably to complain, but Sasuke swiftly cut in. "I'm sorry I haven't told you who I was and what I was doing earlier. I wasn't quite sure if I could trust you. You see, I was traveling with a party of three other people. We were making our way through Fire Country in the hope of finding some work, when, as I explained earlier, we were robbed one night. I woke up the next morning to find all of our water and most of our supplies gone."

Here, Sasuke bowed his head again and was silent for a few moments. _Make it convincing_, he told himself firmly. He had to act as if he really was mourning for lost traveling companions. "I don't know where the rest of my group is. They were gone that morning too. I walked around our campsite for a mile in each direction, and there was no trace of them. I only hope they made it away from the bandits…" Sasuke silently thanked his employer for sending him out on so many intelligence-gathering missions. The man might be a lousy son-of-a-bitch, and a disgusting pedophile to boot, but at least all those missions had helped hone Sasuke's lying skills. He could now spin a cover story like the best of them. Admittedly, he'd never had to come up with one on the spot like this before. The best cover stories were thought up in advance, but Sasuke honestly hadn't thought he'd need one for this mission.

Sakura's eyes were wide and sympathetic now, and the set of the dobe's jaw told Sasuke that even he felt a little bad for him. Sasuke would have smirked, but instead he continued his tale. "So I kept walking in the direction of the biggest town on my map, but the heat was really getting to me. I sat down to rest at the side of the road…and I don't remember anything else until you guys came along. Again, I want to express my most heartfelt thanks to you for stopping to rescue me. I might have died out there if you two hadn't come along." Sasuke bowed down until his head touched the dirt at his feet. "_Arigatou gosaimasu._"

Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other. A silent communication passed between their eyes, one Sasuke couldn't quite decipher. From their expressions he could tell that Sakura was leaning towards having come along. She sympathized with him and obviously was attracted to him as well. Naruto, judging from his furrowed brow, was feeling less sure. Sasuke decided to add a bit more to his story to help convince them.

"I know I don't have many supplies with me, but I'm willing to share what little I do have among the three of us. I also can provide us with some extra protection from bandits. I'm not too shoddy at self-defense, if I do say so myself." Sasuke shifted a little, allowing his knife to catch and reflect the light of the campfire. The blade gleamed wickedly in the flickering light, looking every bit as wickedly sharp as it actually was.

"I think that Sakura-chan and I are going to have to talk this over," Naruto said, taking his pink-haired friend by the arm and leading her away from the fire. The two of them were soon shrouded in darkness, and Sasuke could only see the dim outlines of their bodies. The two of them talked in low voices, so that even Sasuke's sharp ears could only pick up bits and pieces of what they were saying.

"-doesn't have any water-"

"So? _He's_ more likely to kill us in our sleep than any actual bandits…"

"But he has a map…"

"-we did go to all the trouble of rescuing him, after all…"

"Just because you have the hots for him, Sakura-chan, doesn't mean that I should put up with his bullshit until we get to the next town. Don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been acting around him."

"_Shut up_-"

"-promise I'll find some more instant ramen and make it for dinner…"

"If it's only until we get to the next town, I guess…"

Finally, the two of them returned to the campfire. Sakura's left eye was twitching slightly, and Naruto looked extremely put out. For one brief moment, Sasuke was worried the two of them would tell him to hit the road…but then Sakura said, "We've decided to let you accompany us, Sasuke-kun, but only until we reach the next town and restock on supplies. Then we go our separate ways. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Sasuke bowed his head once more, in a mock show of relief and gratefulness.

"Now that that's settled," Sakura said, taking up a seated position around the fire once again, "could we see that map of yours, Sasuke-kun? Naruto and I lost our map awhile back, and we've been traveling based on directions from traders and people in settled areas ever since. It'll be good to get a sense of where we're actually going for once."

"Of course," Sasuke searched through his knapsack for his map of the area, careful not to reveal the hidden compartments where he'd stashed most of his food and all of his water. He spread it out on the ground near the fire, where it was in the best light, and Naruto and Sakura crowded around him in order to see. Sasuke had to suppress a slight shiver as the blond's warm breath tickled the fine hairs at the back of his neck. _Dammit_.

"I would estimate that we're around this area, here." Sasuke pointed. "And look," the dark-haired man's finger moved along the map, two pairs of eyes eagerly following it along. "It looks like the next town is close by. We should be able to get to it within a day and a half's travel…maybe a day if we push it. It's-"

Here Sasuke stopped, his finger hovering just above the town's symbol on the map. This was a place that was well known to him, and not just because it was the largest settled area in Fire Country. _Shit. Oh fuck. Not there! Anyplace but there!_

Naruto, oddly enough, was having a strong reaction as well at seeing their destination. He'd gotten up and was now staring at the campfire with an intensity Sasuke hadn't thought him capable of. "I…I can't believe it," the blond murmured, so softly that Sasuke almost didn't hear it. "Konohagakure…"

"Oh, Naruto…" Sakura got up as well and went to her friend, putting her arms around him in a comforting hug. "We're going towards your home."

This bit of information caught Sasuke by surprise. He stared openly at Naruto, though the blond and Sakura were too caught up in having their moment to notice. _You lived in Konohagakure, dobe? Well, well…isn't _that _interesting…_

"It's been so long since I left," Naruto said. "So much has happened, and I've changed so much…I don't know if I really want to go back. What if no one there remembers me? What if they don't want me there anymore?"

Sakura hugged her friend more tightly. "It's not like we have a choice. We have to get more water, especially with Sasuke-kun along. Besides, I can't see how anyone would be unhappy to see you after so long. They've probably wondered about what you've been doing all these years, and now you can finally tell them."

Naruto looked down at the pink-haired girl and smiled brightly. He knew she didn't really mean for him to tell people back in his hometown what had happened. It would be a terrible risk of their safety and welfare to do so, as there was no telling what people's reactions might be. But the blond appreciated his friend's words all the same. "Thank you, Sakura-chan," he said quietly, hugging her back. "I'm so lucky to have a friend like you."

_Gag me, please, _Sasuke thought, a bit embarrassed at watching such a flowery display. This was why companions were useless. They were constantly following you around, proclaiming their never-ending love and loyalty even when you wanted them to leave. It was much better to be alone, in Sasuke's opinion, and he ruthlessly squashed down the part of himself that secretly wished for someone to accompany him on his journeys.

The dark-haired man cleared his throat loudly, causing Naruto and Sakura both to jump slightly and turn to face him. Naruto quickly let go of Sakura, his face bright red with embarrassment. "I think it would be a good idea if we went to bed for the evening," Sasuke said. "It's getting late, and we need to be up early if we want to make it to Konohagakure in a day's time."

"I guess I'm kind of tired," Naruto said, around a yawn so huge his jaw cracked, and it sounded as if he were saying "Ah gesh ahm kaaaaannnndddaaa tah-rrrrddd." The blond stretched, causing Sasuke's throat to momentarily go dry. It had to be illegal for one man to have such lean, wiry muscle in his arms like that. "I'll take first watch, then?"

"No," Sasuke said, perhaps a little too quickly. Silently cursing at himself, he continued in a calmer vein. "I'll take first watch. It's the least I can do, since you and Sakura saved my life, after all."

Naruto just shrugged. "Whatever, teme." And with that, the blond busied himself with getting out a few old blankets to make a bed with.

* * *

Before too much longer, Naruto and Sakura's breathing was steady, meaning that they were sleeping soundly. Sasuke fed a few more chips of dung to the campfire, then sighed deeply. He couldn't put it off any longer. It was time for him to report in to his boss.

At least Phase One of Sasuke's plan was complete. He had made contact with the target. Now all that was left to do was lose the girl, secure Naruto, and hightail it back to Sound Country. Then, Sasuke could continue his search for the one target he _really _wanted to find.

Sasuke dug a small, sleek black communicator out of a hidden pocket of his knapsack and put in the earpiece. After a few minutes of fiddling with the buttons, the dark-haired man heard a voice come in.

The voice was smooth and masculine, belonging to someone of obvious intelligence and good breeding. It was a voice belonging to a person people felt they could trust and tell their deepest, most personal secrets to. The voice had an air of someone who was quite friendly, and could be relied upon to never, ever let a person down.

This person's victims always died with a look of the utmost shock and surprise on their faces. They never saw the knife in their back until it was too late.

"Ahhh, Sasuke-kun," the man practically purred through the communicator amid brief bursts of static. "I was wondering when I'd hear from you. Orochimaru-sama in particular was starting to think that this mission would perhaps be a bit too difficult. Report on your status. Do you require back up?"

Sasuke grit his teeth against the impulse to smash the communicator to bits in a fit of rage. Hearing Yakushi Kabuto's horrible voice for even the briefest of moments never failed to anger him. The dark-haired man forced himself to be calm. "Actually, Kabuto, my mission is going very well. Here's my report…"

* * *

**Author's Note: A few things in this chapter might seem a bit confusing to readers right now. Such as why Sasuke has water on him, yet was dehydrated when Naruto and Sakura found him. Please bear with me, dear readers. I promise that all will be explained as the story goes on.**

**Fun Fact: The symptoms Sasuke was experiencing when Naruto and Sakura found him are in fact actual symptoms of mild dehydration. The best treatment for dehydration is to drink something with electrolytes in it, such as Gatorade, or Pedialite for children. However, I figured that Naruto and Sakura wouldn't have Gatorade on them, since they're traveling through the wilderness. So I had Sakura administer the next best treatment to Sasuke: Water, followed by a light meal to replenish lost electrolytes.**

**REVIEW CORNER Thanks for Reviewing: **moon maiden of time, bridmatt, Dinaja, nekokiki

**Reviews are, as always, much appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3 Traders

**Author's Note: Hello, and welcome back to "Flamethrower!" :D **

**This chapter was really difficult to write for me. I originally started writing it in a completely different way, but then scrapped it because the chapter was getting too long. I had to completely re-write it, and I'm still not a hundred percent satisfied with it. (I feel this is as good as it's going to get, though). This bit of the story wasn't really the most fun to write for me, honestly. Still, it was essential in order to move the plot along and explain a few things.**

**As always, this story is being uploaded to AFF account, LostinThought8, as well as this one. The link can be found in my profile.  
**

**WARNINGS: Language, brief mention of slavery and prostitution, brief mention of pedophilia**

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own _Naruto_, nor do I make any money off of the writing of this fanfiction.**

**And now, without any further ado, onwards to Chapter 3!**

* * *

Sasuke had been following Naruto and Sakura for several days before deciding on a definite plan of action.

It was Sakura who'd ruined Sasuke's original plan, which had been to corner Naruto, and use force to get the blond to come back to Sound Country. Sasuke had been planning on a fight-after all, anyone who could escape from one of Sound Country's well-guarded Research Facilities had to be strong-but the dark-haired man fully expected to win. After all, no one had bested Uchiha Sasuke, Orochimaru's strongest, smartest, and most capable agent, in a fight before. Besides that, Orochimaru had made it sound as if Naruto was some feral beast, a lab experiment gone awry, who needed to be returned to Sound Country immediately for his own safety. Sasuke had been counting on using force to "convince" Naruto to come with him back to Sound Country. He was sure that whoever the blond had escaped with was dead by now.

By the time the dark-haired man had finally found Naruto, he'd been quite surprised to see the blond's fellow escapee not only alive and well, but traveling along with Naruto out of her own free will. Sasuke was further surprised to see that Naruto exhibited no animal-like or feral qualities. On the contrary, he seemed exactly like any other traveler walking the ruined old roads between Countries these days. Sasuke was forced to abandon his previous plan of action when he realized that both Naruto and Sakura were armed and had at least some knowledge of combat. The dark-haired man was confident he'd be able to beat them in a fight if it came down to that, especially with the Sharingan, but he needed to be cautious. Out here, alone, with no other people around for miles, it was easy to get into trouble. The risk was too high that the girl would be able to shoot Sasuke while he was dealing with Naruto, or vice versa. It wasn't like the Sharingan made him bulletproof, after all. Then he would be in the middle of Fire Country with a prisoner, injured, and with limited water supplies. Definitely not a good situation to be in.

Sasuke followed Naruto and Sakura at a safe distance for several days, using the Sharingan to observe them. Among other things, these special contact lenses Orochimaru had developed allowed the user to "sense" where a person was at all times. This allowed Sasuke to keep track of where Naruto and Sakura were and what they were doing. He was always able to keep far enough away that they wouldn't notice him, and sure enough, neither Naruto nor Sakura suspected a thing.

Unfortunately, Sasuke's surveillance didn't provide him with much in the way of answers. Naruto and Sakura seemed to have their bases decently covered for a pair traveling alone through barren and dangerous country. They took turns keeping watch at night, and neither of them were heavy sleepers. Naruto would be awake if Sakura so much as shifted oddly in her sleep. Likewise, Sakura would be up and drawing her pistol when Naruto jolted awake screaming bloody murder-which the blond did twice when Sasuke was watching them, although the dark-haired man was never close enough to find out exactly why this happened. The two of them were also alert and aware during the day as well, leaving the chances of a successful surprise attack fairly low, in Sasuke's opinion.

Eventually, Sasuke decided to go with an old technique that had served him well on many missions where he'd needed to get into certain restricted areas in order to get information: infiltration. Whether it was bribery, seduction, blackmail, or simply becoming friends with the right groups of people, Sasuke had always been able to get into the right crowds in order to get needed information. This job was no different. Sasuke would simply have to travel along with Naruto and Sakura for awhile until they reached an area where he could take Naruto captive without interference.

Around dawn the next day, Sasuke traveled several miles down the old asphalt road Naruto and Sakura had been following. After Sasuke figured he'd gone enough of a distance so as not to make his target and the girl suspicious, he carefully packed away all of his water and most of his food into the secret pockets of his knapsack. Then, Sasuke lay down on the ground, his body curled protectively around his flamethrower, and activated his Sharingan.

Using the Sharingan to create illusions was something Sasuke hadn't had much of an opportunity to try out before. By the time he created one he deemed satisfactory, the better part of an hour had passed and Sasuke had a pounding headache. Still, he had accomplished what he needed to. Anyone who walked by this stretch of road would think that Sasuke was unconscious. If they stopped to take a closer look, they would think that he was suffering from dehydration.

This first part of the plan was incredibly risky, Sasuke knew. He was depending on Naruto and Sakura to stop and help an apparently unconscious man on the side of the road. Human kindness was rare these days, and Naruto and Sakura had every possible reason to think that Sasuke was a bandit trying to rob them. The two of them might try to shoot him, or take his supplies. Or, they might very well just walk right past him. However, from Sasuke's observations of the pair over the last few days, he got the feeling that they were innately kind people. Sasuke trusted his gut, and his gut told him that Naruto and Sakura would stop for him.

A little while later, Sasuke heard footsteps, crunching through the loose asphalt along the road. He cracked open one Sharingan-enhanced eye ever-so-slightly, and was relieved to see the figures of Naruto and Sakura coming in his direction. Sasuke closed his eye, listening with all his might as the pair approached.

The footsteps stopped several yards away, and Sasuke strained to make out the hushed conversation as Naruto and Sakura debated stopping to help him. The dark-haired man didn't dare to breathe. He lay as still as possible, every single particle of his body hoping, praying…

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Sasuke heard two pairs of footsteps come right up next to him and stop. There was the slight _click_ of a gun being aimed at his head, and then slim, slightly callused hands with thin fingers and short nails were running all over his body. The girl's, Sasuke guessed. No boy's hands could be that slender and small.

It took all of Sasuke's considerable control not to jump to his feet, shove Sakura's hands away, and then fight the two of them. Sasuke did _not _like being touched without permission. Much less did he like his body being examined by a girl, while another man pointed a gun at him. It only got more difficult for Sasuke to maintain control after another, larger set of hands delved into his pockets and removed his knife. Sasuke's hunting knife, a gift from his old caretaker, had been with him ever since he had set out from Fire Country years ago. Besides the flamethrower, it was his dearest weapon, and had seen its fair share of blood. Being disarmed so easily didn't sit well with Sasuke at all. By this time, the dark-haired man's body was tense as a bowstring, his even breathing harsh and ragged. He was certain that Naruto and Sakura would have become suspicious by now, had he not set up the illusion before hand.

The breaking point for Sasuke, the point when he finally sat up and broke the Sharingan's illusion, was when Sakura's finger brushed his eyelid. Although the Sharingan contacts were invisible to the naked eye, Sasuke didn't want to risk the girl accidentally dislodging one or removing them in some other way. Those contacts might be his newest weapon, but they had quickly become a great asset for Sasuke. He certainly didn't intend to give them up anytime soon.

* * *

Sasuke explained the current situation and the implementation of his plan so far to Kabuto in as few words as possible. Surprisingly enough, the other man didn't interrupt him with sarcastic comments, or question his abilities. He only listened quietly, occasionally making a slight sound of assent to show that he was still listening. Sasuke reasoned that getting Naruto back must be incredibly important to Orochimaru if Kabuto wasn't taking this opportunity to try and knock Sasuke down a peg.

"At this point, I think the best bet is to go to Konohagakure," Sasuke said. "I'll need to get some more water for the trip back anyway if I'm going to have a captive with me, and I can lose the girl easily enough in the town. There's always some kind of prostitution or slavery ring going on in the larger settled areas, and she's not ugly. It's just a matter of finding the right people-"

"And how exactly do you plan on getting a young woman to come with you into a life of prostitution or slavery, Sasuke-kun? Besides, you're only going to be in Konohagakure a few days. Is it even possible for you to find members of the criminal underground so quickly?" Kabuto interrupted. He sounded as if he was indulging the fantasies of much younger boy, one who didn't quite understand the realities of putting intricate plans together yet.

_There it is_, Sasuke thought, a bitter taste filling his mouth. _I knew the bastard couldn't resist having a go at me. _"I can work quickly," he said. "Don't worry about the girl. She's already shown she's attracted to me. I'll just ask her if she'll meet me for a night on the town, without Naruto. She's bound to say yes, and when she does I'll hand her over to the pimps or the slavers. Then it's only a matter of subduing the target and getting back to the base."

"Quite the ladies' man, aren't you, Sasuke-kun?" Kabuto said, with a hint of laughter in his voice. Sasuke's free hand clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. "If the target is so much of a challenge that you feel you need to get rid of his traveling companion before taking him on, perhaps I could send Kimimaro-"

"The information _you _provided me with said that the person the target escaped with was probably dead, remember?" Sasuke growled into the communicator, finally losing what remained of his patience. "If I'd known she was alive beforehand, I could have planned for this."

Kabuto chuckled softly, as if Sasuke was nothing more than an amusing diversion to him. "Orochimaru-sama expects you to report in again in three days' time, Sasuke-kun," he said. This statement was followed by a soft _click_ and a brief burst of static, which meant that Kabuto had ended communications on his end. Sasuke shoved his own communicator back into his knapsack, quietly cursing Kabuto with a slow and painful death as he did so.

Sasuke hated Kabuto, and the other man knew it. Sasuke had hated Kabuto from the moment he'd been introduced to the man by Orochimaru at the young age of thirteen. The young doctor Kabuto was hailed as a prodigy in the fields of biology, chemistry, and medicine. It was rumored that Orochimaru would never have gotten as far as he had in his experiments on human bodies and genetics if it hadn't been for Kabuto's assistance. Kabuto enjoyed a rare degree of trust and privilege as Orochimaru's second-in-command, so much so that he was even the head of a small Research Facility on the western edge of Sound Country.

Sasuke clearly remembered just how _clean _Kabuto had seemed to him upon their first meeting. In a world where baths were taken once a week at best, everyone wore clothes spun from rough cotton, and hand-me-downs were made to last generations, Kabuto had looked impeccable in a spotless white lab coat. His long silver hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail away from his face. But Kabuto's eyes were what had really scared Sasuke. They'd flashed, cruel and dark, behind a pair of round glasses at him, completely at odds with the man's friendly voice and demeanor.

Sasuke remembered all the things he'd heard whispered about Kabuto in the halls of the main Research Facility during his first week there. That whenever he visited Orochimaru at the main Research Facility, the human test subjects locked up there wailed and screamed louder than usual, their anguished shrieks of pain reaching nearly unbearable levels. That any person Orochimaru so much as casually mentioned to Kabuto as becoming an annoyance was quickly disposed of, not even a body remaining for any friends and family to find. That Kabuto was good at seducing innocent, naïve people into being his friends with promises of money and power, then equally good at getting rid of them when they were no longer needed.

_"Kabuto, I'm glad you're here. There's someone I want you to meet." Orochimaru put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, gently pushing him forward. Sasuke hated the touch of Orochimaru's too-cold skin, hated being treated like a pet by the man, but there was little he could do about it. Loath as he was to admit it, Sasuke needed Orochimaru's help in order to get stronger and find his brother Itachi._

_ "That stray you mentioned finding in Konohagakure? I didn't think you'd actually go back to get him, Orochimaru-sama," The man Orochimaru had called Kabuto wasn't even facing them, his back bent over a microscope. The other people who lived and worked in Orochimaru's main base, and in the Research Facility and lab below, treated the man with the utmost deference and respect. They averted their eyes when Orochimaru walked past, bowed and murmured "_Orochimaru-sama._" But Kabuto hadn't even looked in Orochimaru's direction, let alone bowed._

_ "I thought you said he was twelve?" Kabuto continued. "Forgive me for my impertinence, Orochimaru-sama, but I'm not sure how a boy so young will be of use to us. If it's pleasure you're after, there are plenty of children in the town near here that I can-" _

_ "This one is different," Orochimaru interrupted. "He may be young, but the fire of vengeance burns strongly in his heart. He has a purpose in life, and I believe that purpose may be of use to us."_

_ Sasuke was beyond angry at this point. To think that this Kabuto could dismiss him so easily, without even _looking _at him! After he'd trekked miles through the rocky deserts of Fire Country, and through the howling thunderstorms of Lightning Country, to get here as well. Only for this man to call him a child. Worse than that, Kabuto had insinuated that Sasuke was a _whore _as well. Rage simmered through the dark-haired boy's veins, quick and hot, threatening to boil over. "Actually, I'm thirteen," he bit out._

_ At that, Kabuto straightened up from the microscope and turned around, apparently surprised that Sasuke had actually spoken. Orochimaru chuckled. "See, Kabuto? I told you he was special."_

_ "You are right, as always, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto murmured, now regarding Sasuke with a degree of interest. "A pleasure to meet you, Sasuke-kun. I am Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru-sama's main assistant at the Sound Country Research Facilities. I'm sure the two of us will be great friends."_

_ Sasuke met Kabuto's eyes, like two lumps of coal in his face, and a shiver that had nothing to do with being underground ran down the dark-haired boy's spine. Sasuke had always hated the feeling of being scared. People who elicited a feeling of fear in him were doubly wretched. In that instant, he hated Kabuto._

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and hot. Sasuke could tell that it was going to be another miserable day of traveling in the scorching heat. Naruto was already talking a mile a minute before they'd even gone very far down the road.

"Hey Sasuke, what's that symbol on your back mean?" Naruto asked, gesturing at the small emblem of a red and white fan sewn clumsily onto the back of Sasuke's shirt collar.

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose hard, trying to stave off the headache he could feel building at his temples. Trust Naruto to ask the most personal, soul-searching questions of guy he'd _just fucking met_. As Sasuke had outgrown his old clothes, he'd carefully, painstakingly cut the symbol of his clan out of the backs of his shirts and sewn them onto his new ones. That red and white fan, once a proud symbol of Fire Country's best and brightest citizens, still haunted Sasuke in his sleep sometimes. It drifted in and out of his dreams, spattered with blood and reverberating with the screams of his dying mother and father as Itachi plunged the knife into their backs again and again and _again_, right in front of him-

"It looks kind of familiar is all…I could have sworn I've seen that symbol somewhere before, but I can't remember where…" Naruto was staring hard at Sasuke's back now, his brows creased together into a "v" shape as he thought.

_Oh shit_, Sasuke thought nervously, abruptly coming out of his morbid reverie. He'd almost forgotten that the dobe used to live in Konohagakure, and was likely to have seen the Uchiha clan's symbol somewhere around the town before. If Naruto figured out that Sasuke was an Uchiha, awkward questions might ensue. "I got these clothes off of an old hag in Earth Country. Her son died, and she was selling some of his stuff to make a bit of money. Maybe this symbol meant something to their family, I don't know."

"Tch. Whatever, teme," Naruto muttered. Still, the blond's eyes moved from Sasuke's back and went back to staring at the few fluffy white clouds on the horizon. The dark-haired man breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Thank the gods for idiots and their short attention spans.

"It's time for another water break," Sakura said, taking one of their canteens from its place at her side. Naruto's mouth positively ached at hearing the water sloshing around inside of it. "I drank last time, so it's Sasuke-kun's turn this time around."

Because of their low water rations, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had been taking it in turns to drink. Every twenty minutes or so, judging by the position of the sun in the sky, one of the three would have a brief drink of water from one of the two half-full canteens Sakura was carrying. All three of them would have a longer drink when they stopped to rest for lunch. Which was something Naruto desperately wanted to happen _now_, even though it was only mid-morning.

"Hang on a sec," the blond said, becoming suspicious as a thought occurred to him. "You let Sasuke have a drink before you had yours, Sakura-chan. Shouldn't it be my turn now?"

"Naruto, he was dehydrated only yesterday," Sakura replied. There was a hint of annoyance in her tone, as if she had to explain something obvious to a young child. "Sasuke-kun needs to keep his fluid levels up. Or do you want to deal with him passing out at the side of the road again?"

Naruto wasn't having it. He was hot, hotter than he'd ever been in his entire life, and he wanted nothing more than to shout "Balls to it!" at the top of his lungs while dumping both canteens of water over his head. He was sweaty and itchy in all sorts of uncomfortable places, and his mouth was so dry it hurt. On top of all that, Naruto had to deal with _Sasuke_. Fucking Sasuke, who refused to answer questions any normal person would ask of anyone traveling with them. Sasuke, who was quiet and brooding, whose dark eyes were filled with an anger Naruto couldn't even begin to understand, who had the even, graceful gait of a fighter as he walked and a nice, toned, muscular rump to boot. _Not that Naruto had been looking, goddammit. _

It was at that point that whatever thin, fraying threads had been holding the blond's temper together up until now snapped. Naruto let out an angry growl and lunged for the canteen Sakura was holding. The pink-haired girl had been half-expecting this, since Naruto had only been getting more and more frustrated throughout the day. She widened her stance, preparing to whack Naruto about the head and yell at him until he calmed down. But as it turned out, Sakura didn't have to do anything. Before she could so much as blink, Sasuke was standing in front of her, planting his hand firmly on Naruto's chest. The dark-haired man gave a hard push and Naruto went stumbling backwards several feet, only barely managing to stay upright.

"So that's how it's gonna be, eh teme?" Naruto was breathing hard, his heart racing. He hadn't really been attacked like that since escaping the Research Facility. A part of the blond, a feral, demonic part that he tried his damnedest to keep hidden and suppressed deep inside, was howling in excitement at the prospect of a real fight, at getting to face a decent opponent, and at the smell of blood that would soon be spilt. He grinned, a bestial expression that was all sharp, gleaming teeth and seemed more animal than human. It had Sakura gasping in fear and Sasuke's hand going for the knife at his hip.

"How 'bout we fight for it, huh, Sasuke?" Naruto growled out. "Whoever wins gets to drink, and whoever doesn't…" The blond trailed off, leaving the darker implications of his challenge to the imagination.

Sasuke's grip tightened around his knife. "You're an idiot, dobe," he said, in a voice that was quiet, but still full of warning at what would happen should Naruto continue with this foolishness. "The heat's getting to you. You need to stop, and think about what you're doing…" Despite what he was saying, Sasuke found himself desperately wanting to fight with Naruto. The blond's bestial expression and hunched stance were now those of the feral animal Sasuke had first expected. The dark-haired man could tell that this was an unusual occurrence, based on Sakura's reactions. All of the blood had drained from the girl's face and her green eyes were riveted on Naruto, unblinking. Sakura's face at the moment was the very picture of shock and fear in a person.

Rather than make Sasuke nervous, however, Sakura's reaction only served to further excite him. It had been so long since he'd had had a good fight. All of Orochimaru's lackeys had long since been beaten soundly by the dark-haired man and were too afraid to spar with him now. Even those targeted for assassination went down with such a degree of ease it was pitiful. Most of them disgraced themselves further by begging for their lives at the end, like small, weak children. Sasuke had a feeling that Naruto was going to be different. A small part of the dark-haired man didn't really want to cut up the lovely body in front of him, but a larger and more dominant part was eager to test his own power against the blond's.

All of a sudden, Sakura cried out. "Look! A trader's wagon!" She pointed off in the distance.

"Stay out of this, Sakura-chan," Naruto growled.

"This is between me and Naruto," Sasuke agreed.

"No, really! Stop being stubborn for five seconds, both of you, and just _look_!" Sakura gestured frantically at a point some distance away from the road…and that was when Naruto heard it. The clatter of wooden wheels against hard packed earth, which meant that a wagon was nearby. And where there was a wagon, there were always…

'I don't believe it," Sasuke murmured, letting go of his knife out of sheer surprise. "Traders, all the way out here. I didn't think there would actually be any…"

Naruto could only stare at the wagon as it approached, pulled along by two large, shaggy donkeys. There were two people sitting up front, although the wagon was far enough away that it was impossible to make out identifying features. The taller one of the pair held the donkeys' reins in his fist, guiding them and the wagon along the rocky terrain.

As he stared, Naruto felt relief flow through his body like a rush of cool water, washing away the fierce anger and battle lust and leaving the blond feeling weak-kneed in its wake. If they were lucky, they might be able to get enough water from the traders, and could avoid going back to Konohagakure completely. Naruto had done his best to hide it, especially since his embarrassing outburst in front of Sasuke the night before, but the truth of it was, he was afraid of going back to his hometown. The blond was no longer the cheerful, happy-go-lucky ten-year-old who rode around the marketplace on his dad's shoulders. Would anyone even still remember Uzumaki Naruto in Konohagakure? Would he be better off if they didn't?

A light touch on his shoulder brought the blond out of his musings. He turned to see Sakura gently tugging at his sleeve. "Naruto, come on," she said quietly. "We'll miss the traders if we don't get a move on." Although the pink-haired girl was smiling at Naruto, her pale green eyes were still alight with fear and uncertainty, as if she were dealing with a potentially dangerous animal that could kill her at any moment. Sakura hadn't acted that way around him since they'd first met at the Research Facility, and the blond felt a deep sense of guilt and remorse for having scared his friend so badly. Naruto almost wished that she'd hit him and shout for him to get going, like usual.

Naruto smiled back in order to reassure the pink-haired girl. _I'll have to make it up to her somehow later. _"Yeah, let's go, Sakura-chan!" He said, pasting a brilliant smile on his face that he didn't really feel.

Naruto made sure to glare at Sasuke as the three of them ran towards the wagon, Sakura calling out for the traders to stop. Things were far from finished between the two of them. Sasuke's outward expression remained one of cool indifference, as if the blond was worth less than the dust on his shoes. Inwardly, however, the dark-haired man did a double-take. For just a brief moment, Naruto's pupils had appeared to be _slit_, like a cat's. When Sasuke sneaked a peak a few seconds later, as the three of them ran up to the wagon, however, the blond's eyes looked as normal as anyone else's. Perhaps it had been a trick of the light.

"Whoa there, girls!" The tall person at the front of the wagon called, pulling hard on the reins. The two donkeys stopped, snorting and kicking up small clouds of red dust with their hooves. Upon closer inspection, Naruto saw that it was a man driving the wagon. He was broad and muscular of build, with short, spiky black hair and dark eyes. Most of his lower face was wrapped in a cloth that the blond saw, with not a little envy, was soaked in water.

"Well, it's a nice surprise to see people willing to trade all the way out here!" The man said cheerfully. "I honestly didn't think we'd find anyone until we crossed the border into Tea Country." The man clapped the person sitting next to him on the shoulder, who looked to be a girl of around fourteen or fifteen. She wore a simple gray yukata, and regarded Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura mildly with large, brown eyes. Long black hair flowed loosely over her shoulders and back. Naruto looked at this girl in the wagon curiously. It was unusual to find young girls among traders. They had a rough life, often having to traverse difficult terrain and go weeks without seeing so much as a semi-permanent camp of people. The blond wondered how Haku ended up following such a difficult path.

"Anyway, what can I do for you three? The name's Zabuza, and this here's my partner Haku. We'll trade for just about anything you got. Haku, would you run around back and get some of the things we picked up in Sunagakure to show these three?" The girl nodded, and hopped lightly down from her seat to wriggle underneath the large canvas tarp covering the back of the wagon. Naruto soon heard the sound of items being shifted around in the back.

"Actually, we were just hoping to trade for water," Sakura said. She'd already taken off her knapsack and was rummaging through it. Naruto had faith that Sakura could get them a good deal. The pink-haired girl could have haggled a cactus out of the last of its water. "I have some medical supplies here you might be interested in…some cans of food…a book of matches…" Sakura took these items out as she listed them off, laying them on the ground for perusal.

Zabuza rubbed the back of his head. "Water, eh? I dunno, ma'am, that stuff's worth its weight in gold out here. I'd need a full kit of those medical supplies of yours, plus four more of those cans, before we can start talking business."

Sakura put her hands on her hips. She usually didn't start seriously haggling so quickly, but their water situation really wasn't looking so good right now. "Oh come on, these are family-size cans of beans! They could last you for _weeks_…"

Naruto heard Sasuke shift slightly behind him. The dark-haired man's hand moved to rest at his side, where his knife was. A casual observer might not think anything of it, but Naruto knew better. People did not simply rest their hands on their weapons unless they meant business. What was Sasuke up to? If he thought he was going to threaten the traders in order to get more water, then he was an idiot. Traders were always heavily armed. These people would blast the dark-haired man across half of Fire Country before he even got the chance to draw that fancy knife of his.

But Sasuke didn't strike Naruto as an idiot. A person didn't travel alone across the wastes of Fire Country after losing their party and survive by being stupid. Was there something about to go wrong with this trade? Now that the blond thought about it, that Haku girl had been rummaging around in the back of the wagon for an awfully long time. How could it be taking her so long to get a few trade goods out from the back of a wagon?

Naruto was starting to get suspicious about the trade himself. He didn't know much about bargaining, it was true, but it seemed to him that Sakura had managed to strike up a reasonable deal for some more water. Yet Zabuza was still haggling over it with her, as if he was trying to buy Haku time. The blond opened his mouth, prepared to tell Sakura that they'd better just get the hell out of there, when Zabuza stuck out his hand and shook Sakura's.

"Well, ma'am, that was a tough bargain you struck, but I think we have a deal. Now…" Zabuza leaned down slightly and picked up a rifle from the bottom of the wagon, which he aimed at Sakura's shocked face. "I think you'd better hand over your knapsack if you wanna live."

Both Naruto and Sasuke started forward at this, drawing their own weapons, but were stopped by Haku coming around from the back of the wagon at last. The girl was wielding two handguns of her own, both aimed point-blank at Naruto and Sasuke. Judging by the serious expression on Haku's face, the blond did not want to test how willing she was to fire them.

The smirk in Zabuza's eyes was clearly evident. "Well, well, looks like you three are caught, nice as you please. I think you'd better drop those weapons and help your friend here hand over your supplies, or things might start to get…messy."

* * *

**Author's Note: Yeah I know, I'm horrible, leaving it off there. But fear not, dear readers, as Chapter 4 will be up in about a week!**

**(And yes, I am aware that Haku is actually a boy. That'll come up later.)  
**

**If you're reading this right now, remember to leave a review! Reviews motivate me to update faster, and make me a happy author. :)**

**REVIEW CORNER ****Thanks for Reviewing: **bridmatt, moon maiden of time

**If anyone out there is interested in Beta Reading for me, please feel free to PM me. Currently I'm editing this story myself, which is getting to be time consuming. A beta who could help me edit this would be much appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4 Bandits

**Author's Note: This chapter makes up for the dullness of the last one, I believe. I hope no one died of anticipation over the cliffhanger in the meantime. xD This wasn't an easy chapter for me to write either, though for completely different reasons from Chapter 3. You'll find out why as you read, I expect.**

**DISCLAIMER****: **_Naruto _**is not mine, and I make no money off of the writing of this fanfiction.**

**This story is being cross-posted to my AFF account, LostinThought8. The link can be found in my profile.**

**WARNINGS: Violence, Blood, Minor Character Death, Use of guns and other weapons to hurt and/or kill people, Language**

**And now, without any further ado…**

* * *

Naruto cursed inwardly. How could he not have seen this coming? He and Sakura were usually so careful during all their interactions with people. By staying on their guard and being observant, Naruto and Sakura had managed to thwart a few attempts at robbery already. But now…one careless moment, made desperate by their low water supply and high tensions, and they were easily caught by a pair of bandits masquerading as traders. The blond raised his arms in the air and started walking slowly towards Haku. The dark-haired girl's hands tightened ever-so-slightly around her handguns in response, but she made no move to shoot him.

Sakura watched Naruto as he walked forward with his knapsack. A mix of helplessness, fear, and anger roiled in her gut, making the pink-haired girl feel slightly nauseous on top of everything else. There was nothing she could do to help her friend, however, since Zabuza had his rifle aimed only two inches away from her skull. All Sakura could do was watch, and curse herself for not being able to do _anything_.

Sasuke started to move forward as well, but Haku whirled to face the dark-haired man before he'd taken even two steps. "Drop the weapon and come forward with your hands up, like Blondie over there! Or I'll shoot you so full of holes there won't be enough of you left for the buzzards to pick at."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and for a moment Naruto was afraid he would rush Haku anyway, never mind the fact that he only had a knife to go up against Haku's guns with. But then the dark-haired man moved his hand to his side – slowly, so as not to startle Haku into shooting – and removed his knife. He tossed it to the ground at his feet, then put his arms up in the air and resumed slowly walking towards Haku with his knapsack, in a mimic of Naruto's current position.

"Bring that hunk of metal as well," Zabuza added, his head jerking towards the flamethrower at Sasuke's feet. "Unless you want me to shoot the young lady over here." He laughed, a harsh, grating sound, and prodded Sakura's head with the end of his rifle. "You ever _seen _that much useless metal, Haku? We're gonna be eating good for a long time after we sell off that thing!"

Sasuke gave Zabuza a look ten times worse than any he had given Naruto. However, he realized that he had no choice but to comply at the moment. The dark-haired man lifted his flamethrower up and slung it over his shoulder, then resumed slowly moving towards Haku.

Naruto felt a cold pit of dread start to form in his stomach at the thought of the predicament the three of them had gotten into. Only a little while ago, Naruto had been ready to fight Sasuke himself, unleashing a load of primal rage and anger in the process. Now, he, Sasuke, and Sakura were going to have their bullet-ridden corpses left out here in the arid wasteland for animals to pick clean, while bandits rode off with their supplies. Even if Zabuza and Haku didn't shoot them outright, Naruto didn't think the three of them would be able to make it to Konohagakure before collapsing of thirst anyway. Not in this extreme heat.

Although Sasuke's outward appearance was a mask of glacial calm, he was starting to get quite nervous about the situation. If he were alone, Sasuke would have activated his Sharingan and killed these two bastards by now. The world would be better off with two less bandits anyway, and the dark-haired man was quite sure that no one would miss them. But in the current situation, Sasuke didn't want to let on about his enhanced eyesight until he'd at least managed to ditch Sakura in Konohagakure. In the meantime, Sasuke told himself that he'd been in worse situations than this one, and would definitely be able to find a way out of it. _Not much worse, though._

Naruto's cold feeling of despair was slowly being over-ridden by the primal fury that had emerged from him not too long ago, when the blond had been preparing to fight Sasuke. The thought that he might die before he'd even reached Wave Country filled the blond with anger, at how unfair life was to give him these cryptic nighttime visions only to snatch away his hopes of ever finding the answers. Buried in that anger, however, was a rather strange thought, one Naruto didn't even consciously recognize: _Sasuke is mine to fight! Mine! These fuckers can't have his blood!_

With that unconscious thought, Naruto looked up and met Sasuke's eyes. The blond could see the same quiet fury he felt reflected in the other man's own onyx irises, in his tightly clenched jaw. Although they only looked at each other for a second, a silent communication passed through Naruto and Sasuke at that moment. _When we reach Haku, we fight. Together._

Naruto was standing in front of Haku now. The blond's entire body was pumped with adrenaline, and the sound of his blood racing through his body filled Naruto's ears. He was pumped and ready for a fight.

"Good. Now hand over your supplies and maybe I won't kill you," Haku said softly. His large, doe-like brown eyes were focused on Naruto's knapsack, eager to find out what treasures it held once he and Zabuza-san were back in the wagon and had left these idiots far behind. His mouth curved upwards into a slight smirk just thinking about it.

Naruto answered with a fierce grin of his own, which in his current state made him look almost like a wild animal. "I don't think so," he growled. Then, to Haku's surprise, the blond dropped down into a crouch and swung out with his leg, aiming to sweep Haku's legs out from under him.

"Wha-?" To say that Haku was shocked at this point would be an understatement. Once he and Zabuza-san showed their true colors and brought out the guns, most travelers simply gave up their supplies and begged to have their lives spared. This blond boy was the first one who actually attempted to fight back. Haku's quick reflexes and flexibility were what saved him. The boy leapt into the air, over Naruto's leg, and backflipped over the blond, landing lightly on his feet behind him.

Haku cursed at realizing he'd dropped one of his guns mid-flip. The weapon had now skidded underneath the wagon, where it couldn't easily be retrieved. Meanwhile, Naruto wasn't making a move. The blond's body was still in an awkward crouch. He stared at Haku with his mouth slightly open. Unbeknownst to Haku, Naruto had gotten an accidental look up the other boy's yukata when he'd leapt up. The slight bulge he'd seen there most definitely did _not _belong on a girl's body.

"Holy _shit_! You…you're a _guy_?!" Naruto finally managed to yell.

Haku's smirk returned, wider than the first time. "Surprised? You're the only person besides Zabuza-san who's guessed my true gender." Haku aimed his remaining handgun at the blond's shocked visage and prepared to squeeze the trigger. "I don't know if that'll be any consolation to you, seeing as you're about to die, but…uuugggghhh!" The slight boy cried out as Sasuke rammed into him, throwing him off balance. The dark-haired man followed this up with a hard punch that sent Haku landing a few feet away on his rump. Haku's second handgun went skittering off across the reddish dirt, coming to a rest next to a boulder many yards away.

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke muttered. "Figures I'd have to save your ass."

Meanwhile, Zabuza had been watching his partner when Naruto and Haku had begun to fight. The moment he'd taken his eyes off of her, Sakura had seen her chance. The pink-haired girl quickly ducked to the side, away from the barrel of Zabuza's rifle. Sakura then clambered up onto the wagon by using the donkeys' reins as handholds, inadvertently loosening them as she did so. The poor animals had already been pawing the ground, snorting and baying in fright the moment fighting had broken out. They took off into the arid desert the moment they were able to pull free from the wagon. Before long, the donkeys were only tiny, dark specks against the horizon.

Zabuza, who'd been staring intently at Haku for the last minute, looked up at the sound of clattering hooves. He was met with the sight of his donkeys running off and one of his captives now crouched in front of him. Sakura smiled triumphantly as she punched Zabuza squarely in the middle of the face. And as anyone who knew Haruno Sakura could tell you, the pink-haired girl had a mean right hook. Zabuza fell off the wagon and landed in a puff of red dust on the ground beside it. The bandit howled in pain as he clutched at his nose, which was now spurting dark streams of blood, staining the cloth that the lower half of his face was wrapped in. Sakura picked up the man's now-abandoned rifle, and turned her attention once again to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Teme!" Naruto was shouting, face flushed red in embarrassment at having needed to be rescued by Sasuke. "I was _going_ to take her…I mean, him…down by surprise and finish this up quickly, but you just _had_ to be the hero and jump in at exactly the wrong moment!"

"If I hadn't 'jumped in,' when I did, your idiotic, slack-jawed face would have been blown across the dirt-!" Sasuke scoffed, but the dark-haired man was cut off by Haku. The boy had gotten to his feet and landed a solid roundhouse kick to Sasuke's head. Although Haku may have been small and slight for his age, the boy fought with all the ferocity and strength of a wildcat. Sasuke stumbled, falling to his hands and knees as bright stars flashed before his eyes.

The hot, primal fury Naruto had felt inside of him before the start of the fight, at thinking that someone might hurt or even kill Sasuke, burst into a renewed fervor. Before he even knew what he was doing, Naruto was on his feet and running towards Haku, ready to turn the smaller boy into a bloody pulp. A quiet snarl erupted from the blond's throat as he spotted Sasuke from the corner of his eye, shaking his head as he tried to clear his vision.

Haku's eyes widened in sudden fear at the sight of the blond man barreling towards him, teeth bared in a snarl and hands curled at his sides like claws. It was not unlike having attracted the sudden ire of a vicious, bloodthirsty wild animal. Even more terrifying were the man's eyes. The irises, formerly a bright, vivid blue, were shot through with streaks of blood red. _Just who _is _this guy?! _Haku thought.

Although his guns were nowhere close enough to help him, Haku was far from having been completely disarmed. With a quick flick of his wrist, Haku slid a set of needles out from the sleeve of his yukata and into his hand. The needles, called _senbon_, were quite long, and incredibly thin and sharp. Combined with Haku's accuracy and precision, they'd gotten him and Zabuza-san out of many a tight spot before. The boy threw them at Naruto now, all five of the needles embedding themselves into Naruto's abdomen.

Naruto halted suddenly in his tracks as a dark stain began to spread across his T-shirt. The sudden pain of having been hit with the _senbon_ seemed to have shocked Naruto out of his bloodlust. His eyes reverted back to their normal color, all traces of crimson gone. The blond grunted in pain and fell to his knees, briefly pressing his fingers against his stomach as he did so. They came away sticky and red. How could being hit with such small weapons hurt so damn _much_?

Haku picked Sasuke's hunting knife up off the ground and ran forward, prepared to finish the job once and for all…only to be knocked flat once again by Sasuke. "Get your fucking hands off of my things," Sasuke hissed into Haku's ear. A wrestling match then ensued between Sasuke and Haku over possession of the knife. Haku was small and flexible, and several times he managed to almost wriggle free of the tight grip Sasuke had him in. Finally, the dark-haired man managed to catch the smaller boy in a bear hug, and squeezed until Haku heard the ominous sound of his ribs creaking. Pain seared across the slight boy's midsection, and he went limp in Sasuke's arms. Meanwhile, Sasuke forced his knife from Haku's grip.

Haku's eyes flashed in panic as he saw the knife coming towards him. "Please-!" He cried out. At one time, this might have caused Sasuke to hesitate, but not now. Not after eight years under Orochimaru. With one swift movement, Sasuke's blade was embedded in Haku's jugular vein. Blood came from the slight boy's neck in thick spurts, staining the bright silver of Sasuke's knife. Haku's body sagged even further against Sasuke, and the dark-haired man dropped him in an unceremonious heap on the ground.

Haku's formerly bright brown eyes started to dull. "Zabuza-san…" he choked out around the knife lodged in his throat. Despite being several feet away, and despite the fact that Haku's voice was raspy and barely above a whisper, Zabuza's head whipped towards the boy. His eyes went wide in horror and disbelief at the sight of his young partner bleeding out in the dirt.

"HAKU! HAKU, HANG IN THERE!" Zabuza shouted, ignoring the pain from his broken nose. The bandit tried to get to his feet, but was deterred by the sudden presence of his rifle pressed into the back of his skull. Sakura was plenty shocked and horrified herself by what was going on right before her eyes, but she still wasn't about to let a dangerous bandit get away right in front of her.

"Zabuza-san…I'm sorry…I…" Haku's voice was starting to fail him now, coming out in little more than choked gasps. His breathing was shallow and uneven, each breath coming harder than the last. Blood pooled underneath the boy's head, staining the dirt beneath him.

"It's OK, Haku! It'll all be OK, I promise! Please, don't die!" Zabuza's voice was growing increasingly desperate now.

"…failed you…" Haku finally gasped out. The boy's head lolled to the side, his dark eyes falling closed for the last time as his long, black hair fell across his cheek. Haku gave one last, shuddering breath…then no more.

"NO! Nononononononononono…Haku!" Zabuza cried out. His breath came in and out in strange, hitching gasps, and the bandit didn't realize he was crying until he felt the hot tears sliding down his cheeks, further wetting the cloth around his face. _When was the last time Momochi Zabuza cried about anything? _He found himself wondering.

Zabuza's head lifted up towards the sky. His dark eyes held a crazed gleam as he shouted his rage, pain, and sadness for everyone in the vicinity to hear. "You BASTARDS! I'll kill you myself! I'll kill every last one of you!" The bandit whipped around towards Sakura, who was closest to him. His arms were outstretched, fingers twisted into claws, fully prepared to rip the pink-haired girl before him into shreds.

Sakura let out a dry sob as she brought the rifle up, and closed her eyes against the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. The sound of the rifle going off as Sakura pulled the trigger sounded unusually loud. Zabuza's body slumped down to the ground once more, his dark eyes staring blankly up at the sky. Blood pooled out from the bullet hole in his skull, covering the earth around him in much the same way it had for Haku.

For the first time since he was thirteen years old, Sasuke found himself unable to look at someone who had died. The dark-haired man looked up at Naruto instead. The blond was now on his feet and standing beside him. He winced in pain, clutching his abdomen, but the flow of blood seemed to have slowed for the time being.

Naruto's eyes were not focused on Sasuke, however, but on Haku's dead body. They looked so intense that Sasuke felt, for a fleeting moment, that the fierce blue would have burned him alive should those eyes be looking at him.

"Sasuke," Naruto said, so softly Sasuke almost didn't hear it, "why?"

For the first time in years, Sasuke was at a loss for words.

* * *

"Owwww," Naruto wailed. "Sakura-chan, that _hurts_!"

"Stop whining already, it's just disinfectant."

"Is it supposed to sting like that?"

"It should let up after a few minutes. Remember Naruto, I'm a nurse, and I do know what I'm doing, so just shut up already and let me get these bandages on!"

Naruto and Sakura were taking cover behind a group of boulders a short distance away from the wagon, so that Sakura could treat Naruto's wounds without the two of them having to stare at dead bodies. Sasuke had elected to search the wagon for any supplies that might be useful to them. Sakura had already removed the _senbon_, a process that caused Naruto to holler as if being chased through the hills at night by a pack of bloodthirsty wild dogs. Though she wanted nothing more than to fling the loathed needles as far away from her as possible, Sakura had quickly wiped them off and tucked them into her knapsack instead. One learned quickly in this world not to waste anything, even something that had been used to hurt a friend.

Now, the pink-haired girl was carefully cleaning the wounds with a cloth covered in disinfectant from one of her med-kits, before wrapping them tightly in bandages. "There, that's the last of them," she muttered, using a piece of medical tape to secure the last linen bandage across Naruto's torso. "You can sit up now, but _slowly_, OK?"

Naruto did as his friend asked, getting carefully into a sitting position from where he'd been propped up against the boulders. The blond slowly flexed his arm and leg muscles as well. Sakura kept her hand against the blond's back as he assessed his body, careful to make sure he didn't suddenly fall back against the rocks. When Naruto was confident that everything was in working order, he turned to Sakura and smiled. "Thanks Sakura-chan! I'm lucky you were there or I'd have really been in trouble."

Sakura couldn't feel less like smiling at the moment. During the course of the day, she'd been held at gunpoint, had watched her best friend undergo some sort of a violent fit and then almost get killed, watched Sasuke kill someone, and finally, she had killed someone herself. Sakura was bone-tired and wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for days. But the pink-haired girl forced herself to smile anyway, for Naruto. For a second the two of them sat there, smiling at each other like idiots. Then Sakura found herself sobbing into Naruto's chest, the blond's arms wrapped tightly around her in a firm hug.

"Sakura-chan, what is it? What did I do wrong?" Naruto was slightly alarmed by the way his pink-haired friend had suddenly fallen to pieces. He rubbed soothing circles on her back, at a complete loss for what to do in this situation.

_I'm so stupid, _Sakura couldn't help thinking to herself as she wept. _I've seen people die before. I've watched plenty of people die, back in the Research Facility! Dying is a fact of life, there's no getting around that. But…_Sakura made a choked noise, and curled herself up into a little ball against Naruto's solid body. _I kill one person, and I just fall apart. I'm such a stupid little girl!_

"Sakura-chan, please, tell me what's the matter? I'm here for you," Naruto said. "I'm sorry I yelled so much while you were fixing me up. If it makes you feel any better, you probably won't even have to change the bandages or anything. I heal fast, remember?"

Sakura remembered Naruto's abnormally fast healing capabilities quite well, but she didn't have time to dwell on it, as the sound of footsteps close by heralded Sasuke's return. Sakura quickly pulled herself away from Naruto, sitting up and wiping away tears and snot from her face. There were few things more embarrassing than having someone you didn't know well see you crying, in Sakura's opinion. Especially if it was a boy who you thought was attractive…though Sakura had to admit, watching Sasuke kill a person had hindered her romantic feelings for him somewhat.

"I found some stuff in the wagon I think would be useful," Sasuke said as he rounded the boulders and came into view, carrying a rough fabric sack in front of him. "There was some water too…" The dark-haired man stopped upon seeing Sakura's red face and puffy eyes, which she was wiping at with the back of her hand. Naruto was staring at her looking confused, which wasn't a surprise. "Is this a bad time?"

"N-No, Sasuke-kun, it's fine," Sakura said. She swiped at her face one last time and stood up to face him. "Show us what you found."

Sasuke decided not to ask any further. He'd never been good at dealing with crying, especially if the person who was crying was female. Better not to cry at all, in Sasuke's opinion. What good did tears ever do?

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, who had also gotten to his feet, and frowned slightly at the blond's bandaged torso. It took Sasuke a moment to realize that he was feeling guilty. After all, Naruto had gotten himself injured by trying to prevent Sasuke from getting killed by Haku. Guilt was an emotion the dark-haired man wasn't used to feeling, and especially not towards targets. In an effort to quell the uneasy feelings currently churning around inside of his gut, Sasuke reached inside the sack and pulled out a canteen of water he'd retrieved from the bandits' wagon. "Here," he said. "You'd better have a drink, dobe, before you fall over. I'd rather not be carrying around your unconscious body."

For several long seconds, Naruto didn't say anything. The blond just stared at the canteen in Sasuke's outstretched hand, his eyes practically bugging out of his head in disbelief. Then he looked up at Sasuke, and his face split into the biggest smile Sasuke had seen in a long time. The dark-haired man felt light inside, lighter than he had in a long while, at the sight of a smile like that. And directed towards him, no less! In that moment, a silent truce was forged between the two men, and the first shaky, tenuous bonds of friendship were created.

"I think you'd better drink that water instead, teme," Naruto said jokingly. "You're looking awfully pale. Don't want to get dehydrated again, after all."

"I think we've all earned a drink," Sakura cut in. She was smiling too. It was a small smile, but a genuine one, at the sight of Naruto and Sasuke finally getting along. "Let's all drink up; we've still got to make camp, after all."

All three of them privately agreed that it was the best water they'd ever had.

* * *

Unfortunately, the bandits' wagon only had one full canteen of water. The only other canteen proved to be full of some kind of alcohol, though not any kind the group was familiar with. The stuff smelled as if it had been brewed in a latrine, however, so they ended up pouring it out onto the ground. Upon realizing that they would have to stop at Konohagakure for more water after all, both Naruto and Sasuke had sinking feelings in their guts.

The rest of the wagon, according to Sasuke, had mostly contained bags of seed and grain meant to be used for animal feed. He'd taken all of the food, as well as the two rolls of bandages he'd come across for Sakura's med-kits, and a few smaller bags of seed to use in trading. They split the goods up between their three packs. Sasuke could tell by Sakura's frown and Naruto's contracted eyebrows that the two felt bad about taking the supplies, though for the life of him he couldn't imagine why. Travelers scavenged from the dead all the time. If someone was dead, then they didn't need their stuff anymore. There was no sense in feeling bad about taking it.

As they prepared to leave the area, Sakura actually proposed burying Zabuza and Haku's bodies. Sasuke privately thought that the girl was insane to even suggest such a thing, but he didn't say so. Instead, Sasuke calmly pointed out that they didn't have shovels with them, or any other tools for digging graves, and that even if they did, it would take time and energy that they didn't have to spare. Sakura just nodded in agreement. Naruto looked like he wanted to argue, but seemed to sense the futility of it and kept his mouth shut. However, just before they left, Sasuke saw Sakura laying a small pile of rocks over by the bandits' wagon, as a kind of marker. The dark-haired man told himself that the girl was being overly emotional towards people who had tried to kill her. Acts of human kindness had no place in this kind of world.

"Hey teme," Naruto said as they headed out, "there's one thing I don't understand."

_I'm sure that's one of many things, Naruto,_ Sasuke thought. Out loud, he said, "What?"

"That 'flamethrower' of yours." The blond nodded towards the metal container currently slung over Sasuke's back. "You said that it shoots flames, and you can burn enemies with it."

The last thing Sasuke wanted to talk about was his flamethrower. He especially didn't want to talk about it with Naruto when it was close to sunset and they were trying to find a good place to make camp. "Hn." _Please, if there are any gods out there listening right now, let him just shut up right now._

"So how come you didn't use it against those bandits?"

"It's broken, alright? Drop it already!" Sasuke hadn't meant to say that, but he'd wanted Naruto to just _stop talking _about it already. Inwardly, he cursed himself for revealing even that much to people he wasn't planning on getting attached to. Unconsciously, Sasuke's fingers reached around to trace the edges of the perfectly round hole near the top of the flamethrower as a memory rose, unbidden, to his mind.

* * *

_Sasuke was lying in his bed back at Orochimaru's main base, trying and failing to fall asleep. He knew it was important that he get some rest, since he was setting out on his new mission to bring back the escapee from Kabuto's Research Facility tomorrow. But no matter how much he tossed and turned, Sasuke couldn't seem to relax._

_ Most of it was his own paranoia, the dark-haired man knew. Ever since he'd first come to Sound Country, Sasuke had been whispered about and stared at. Rumors were passed around about every aspect of Sasuke's existence, from his parentage to his eating habits. It was only to be expected, from a boy whom Orochimaru himself had taken enough interest in to personally escort back from Fire Country. The unwanted attention only increased when Sasuke became a good enough agent to rival Kabuto for their leader's favor. Guards-thuggish, brutal men who carried guns the size of Sasuke's leg-were posted in the corridor outside his room, but Sasuke had no doubt that they would be easily dispatched by someone who really wanted to kill him._

_ Sasuke had been one of the few people in Orochimaru's base who was given his own sleeping quarters. The room was small, there only being enough room for a bed, a chair, and a table, but clean, and the bed was comfortable. Still, Sasuke was awoken his first morning in his new bedroom by the sight of Kidoumaru, one of Orochimaru's five elite bodyguards, standing over him. The man's face had been about an inch away from Sasuke, his dark eyes staring intently into Sasuke's own. Kidoumaru's Curse Mark had been partially activated as well, spreading inky streaks of black across his face like horrible tattoos. Sasuke had only barely stopped himself from screaming bloody murder, instead releasing a high-pitched yelp reminiscent of a puppy being strangled. Kidoumaru looked disappointed, but left the room without saying a word, closing the door quietly behind him. To this day, Sasuke had no idea why Kidoumaru had been in there. Had he wanted to kill Sasuke, or had he only been curious about the newest member of the base? Sasuke had never asked. _

_ Ever since that morning, Sasuke had been too afraid to sleep in his own room for years. He'd slept in different, secluded corners of the base every night, places where he was sure people would have difficulty finding him. Orochimaru knew about this, and somehow also knew exactly where Sasuke slept every night. The snaky bastard occasionally taunted him for it as well. "Was the storage room comfortable enough for you last night, Sasuke-kun?" He would say, his slit-pupiled eyes alight with sick glee at Sasuke's anger._

_ Eventually, when Sasuke turned eighteen years old and had soundly beaten Kidoumaru and three of Orochimaru's other bodyguards during combat practice, he'd gone back to sleeping in his room. But the dark-haired man still had difficulty actually falling asleep at night. He couldn't quite shake the fear that someone would come along and put a knife in him while he was asleep. _

_ Tonight, Sasuke's fears were about to become reality._

_ He didn't know how long he'd been lying awake in his bed-there were no windows in his room to measure daylight by-but Sasuke would have guessed it had been a good few hours. Then, his door came swinging open with such a crash that the wooden frame splintered and nearly came off. Sasuke was up in an instant, his hand reaching for his knife, but in the next second he found himself pinned back against the bed by his hands and knees._

_ Sasuke had never seen Yakushi Kabuto looking so furious. The man's normally composed face was twisted into an angry snarl that was absolutely terrifying. The light from the small lamp on Sasuke's bedside table caught the lenses of Kabuto's glasses, obscuring the doctor's eyes into a pair of flashing discs. His normally neat silver ponytail was disheveled for the first time in Sasuke's knowledge, several pieces falling in frizzy tangles around his face and back. Even Kabuto's normally spotless lab coat was wrinkled, and stained with strange, foul-smelling chemicals._

_ Sasuke's heart leapt into his throat and stayed there, pounding out a drumbeat against his Adam's apple. He'd never sparred with Kabuto, and the doctor's strength and dexterity was astounding. How had he gotten so strong when he was always at his Research Facility, or with Orochimaru? No matter how the dark-haired man struggled, he couldn't get free of Kabuto's hold. Sasuke was helpless as the doctor tossed his knife to the other side of the room in one swift move, leaving him disarmed. He struggled to swallow against his suddenly parched throat, the first stirrings of panic rising inside him. Was this it? Was Kabuto finally going to kill him?_

_ "You little _shit_," Kabuto snarled, his voice lower and angrier than Sasuke had ever heard it before. "How dare _he _assign _you_ to get that brat back!"_

_ Sasuke wondered if Kabuto even knew what he was saying. He wasn't making a lot of sense right now. "I…I don't…"_

_ "Shut up!" Kabuto pressed against Sasuke even harder, to the point where he was starting to cut off the circulation in Sasuke's wrists. "He only told you to retrieve the little asshole who ran off in order to punish me, for letting him escape in the first place. I asked him to send Kimimaro, I practically begged him…"_

_ Sasuke said nothing. He only stared at Kabuto, who was breathing as hard as if he'd just run a mile on a hot day._

_ "But no. He's going to have you bring the boy back here, so that you'll look like the capable one and I'll be a disgraced fool. That must _not _be allowed to happen!"_

_ Kabuto looked then as if an idea had just come to him. Slowly, his face morphed into a horrible smile that made Sasuke's blood run cold. The doctor got up, releasing Sasuke, but Sasuke didn't dare to get up off of the bed. His knife was lying uselessly on the floor at the other side of the room, and he knew he didn't stand a chance against Kabuto's strength in unarmed combat. All Sasuke could do was lie there and hope he survived._

_ Sasuke didn't dare breathe as Kabuto reached into his lab coat and pulled out a small pistol. This was it. Kabuto was going to plant one right in his heart, and that would be it for him. Sasuke would die here, alone, in Orochimaru's main base in Sound Country, having never found his brother or avenged his clan-_

_ "I'd love nothing more than to kill you, right here and now," Kabuto said, breaking into Sasuke's panicked train of thought. "But I'm afraid that the consequences for me would be far too severe if I attempted such a thing. However…" Kabuto reached under the bed and pulled out Sasuke's flamethrower._

_ Sasuke saw what he was going to do before he even did it. His already pale face grew even paler. "No," he croaked out, "no, _please_-" _

_ Kabuto looked up at the dark-haired man, and fixed him with that horrible smile as he aimed the pistol at Sasuke's flamethrower, his most prized weapon. The shot sounded especially loud to Sasuke's ears, leaving a dull ringing as Kabuto left a bullet-sized hole in the metal container, rendering the flamethrower useless._

_ "Trust me, _Sasuke-kun_, it'll be a lot harder to bring that boy down without your precious flamethrower," Kabuto said quietly, in a voice more resembling his normal, falsely pleasant one. "Good-night, and I wish you good luck on your mission."_

_ With that, the doctor exited the room, leaving Sasuke staring, wide-eyed with shock, at his broken flamethrower on the floor._

* * *

**Author's Note: Believe me, I felt awful about killing off Zabuza and Haku. However, I felt that the scene just wouldn't pack the right punch if I used OCs as bandits. This is a post-apocalyptic scenario our characters are in, after all, and it isn't pretty. Death happens, in some cases quite frequently.**

**At least now we know a bit more about Sasuke's flamethrower. I really love writing these mini Sasuke flashbacks, I feel like it adds more depth to his character without giving everything away about him just yet. More about what happened to Naruto and Sakura in the Research Facility will be coming up fairly soon as well.**

**The next chapter may not be out so quickly, unfortunately. I'm going on vacation with my family next week, and then I start university again shortly after that. I have no plans to abandon this story, but time to work on it may soon become scarce for me. Just giving everyone a heads-up about that.**

**If you read this far, remember to review! I've been getting lots of alerts and favorites from people, but not so many reviews. Don't lurk, tell me what you think! Shower me with undying praise, or tell me I'm the worst writer you've ever come across, whatever! I crave feedback. :3**

**REVIEW CORNER**** Thanks for Reviewing: **bridmatt, moon maiden of time

**Until next time! :)**


	5. Chapter 5 Konohagakure

**Author's Note: Wow, has it really been a month since I updated last? Being back at school really does take away a lot of time I could spend writing...Well, the good news is, this is a nice, long chapter for you guys to enjoy. That makes up for my lateness in updating a little bit, I hope.**

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I still don't own _Naruto_. I'll just have to console myself at night with this Naruto plushie, I guess. *squeezes***

**WARNINGS: The Uchiha massacre is discussed in this chapter. That means there's blood, death, murder, crazy!Itachi, and PTSD!Sasuke. Also language, but that's nothing new, I'm sure.**

**As always, this story is being uploaded to my AFF account, LostinThought8. The link can be found in my profile.  
**

**And now, without any further ado…**

* * *

When Sakura unwound Naruto's bandages the next morning to check his wounds, there was nothing there. The formerly deep punctures in Naruto's abdomen would normally have taken several weeks to heal. But the blond's tanned skin was now smooth and unmarked, with not even the faintest scar to show where Haku's _senbon _had been. This wasn't the first time that Sakura had seen Naruto's abnormally fast healing capabilities, but she still hadn't quite gotten used to it.

Naruto abruptly yanked his T-shirt down over his abdomen, feeling equal parts embarrassed and angry. Sakura usually acted like he was normal, as if Naruto hadn't spent half of his life so far playing the part of human guinea pig for a group of sadistic scientists. Sometimes, though, even Sakura couldn't pretend that he wasn't a freak. Like now, when she'd been staring at his stomach with her eyes wide and mouth agape, as if seeing something miraculous. For Naruto, it was just another reminder that he'd never really be able to fit in with normal people.

Sakura looked for a moment as if she wanted to say something, but with Sasuke busily packing up camp only a few feet away, she held her tongue. Naruto himself went to help, shoving things into his knapsack with what the pink-haired girl felt was unnecessary force.

Sasuke, although he'd feigned ignorance, had secretly activated his Sharingan the moment Sakura had unwound Naruto's bandages and the two of them were distracted. The dark-haired man had been hoping to learn more about his target, perhaps by getting a peek at the tattoo he'd heard was around Naruto's belly button. Sasuke had been treated to the sight of Naruto's stomach looking perfectly healed, which should have been impossible given the state of his wounds yesterday. There was also a faint red-orange glow around the blond's midsection, the likes of which Sasuke had never seen before. For a few moments he was dumbstruck, a faint current of fear running down his spine for the first time in years. Sasuke had to force himself to continue packing up as if nothing was wrong. _I'm not sure what exactly they did to you in Sound Country, Uzumaki Naruto…but it looks like you're more special than I thought._

* * *

They arrived at Konohagakure by mid-morning. At this time of day the front gates were practically deserted. The villagers who tried to farm the dry, arid soil around town would have already gone out to the fields earlier in the day. Everyone else tended to stay within the safety of the town's walls as they went about their various daily tasks. Only two guards were stationed in front of the old wooden gate marking the entrance into Konohagakure, though at the moment they didn't seem particularly watchful. One of them was staring at a flock of birds passing by overhead, and the other one was slumped against the wall, drowsing in the heat.

Sasuke tried to ignore the way his stomach was twisting around in knots at being back in his hometown after so many years. Konohagakure…the place where his quest for revenge had started all those years ago. Although he doubted that he would be recognized, Sasuke still donned the wide-brimmed, rice paper hat he kept in his knapsack. Rice paper hats were commonly worn by field workers, as well as travelers, in order to keep the sun out of their eyes. Most people didn't bother giving Sasuke a second glance when he wore it.

"Hey teme, what's with the hat all of a sudden?"

…But of course Naruto would have to ask a stupid question about it anyway. Lately, Sasuke could barely take a shit without the dobe pestering him about something or other. _Patience, _the dark-haired man sternly reminded himself. "It feels hotter out today, and this helps to keep me cool."

"Whatever, teme." Naruto's tone was still skeptical, but he let the matter drop.

As the trio approached the main gate, Sakura fell into step beside Naruto and grabbed his hand. The blond looked sweaty and pale with nerves with each step he took towards his former home. His usual sunny smile was absent, replaced instead with an expression of grim determination. The look Sakura gave him was full of worry and concern, one that clearly read, _Be careful. Try not to talk to anyone you don't have to._

Naruto smiled slightly down at the pink-haired girl. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I'll be OK," he whispered, so that Sasuke wouldn't hear. "We just get the water and go, right?"

"Right," Sakura smiled back and squeezed Naruto's hand for reassurance.

The guards stood at attention as they caught sight of the trio. Even the one who had been snoozing was suddenly wide awake, looking at them with sharp, suspicious eyes. Both guards rested their hands on the guns at their sides, clearly telling them to not try anything funny. _Perhaps these two aren't as stupid as I first thought_, Sasuke mused.

"State your business," said one of the guards, a man with chin-length dark brown hair and long bangs that flopped over his right eye.

"We're just travelers," Sakura said, holding her hands up in the universal gesture of peace. "We only want to fill our canteens."

The two men turned their attention away from Sakura and fixed dark, suspicious looks at Naruto and Sasuke. The blond gulped nervously as both pairs of eyes lingered over the scars on his cheeks. Sasuke stood tall and straight under the guards' harsh stares, though he did shift his knapsack ever-so-slightly in order to better conceal the metal flamethrower strapped over his back.

The two guards glanced at each other before seemingly coming to a decision. "Alright, you can go through," said the other guard, a man with wild, spiky black hair and a strip of white bandage over his nose. "But if we catch _any _of you causing trouble in this town, we won't hesitate to put a bullet in your back and dump your corpse out with the morning's garbage."

"Yes sir," Sakura said, somehow managing to keep her nervous voice steady. She, Naruto, and Sasuke scurried past the guards and into the town proper.

Naruto was hit immediately with a sense of nostalgia. Konohagakure looked exactly as he remembered it. Rows of buildings lined the dirt streets, ranging in size from ramshackle little wooden huts that looked as if they'd fall apart in a stiff breeze, all the way to the two-story stone buildings that belonged to the town's elite. A group of dirty, ragged children wrestled together in front of the nearest house, their shrill, joyful cries mingling with the shouts of merchants hawking their wares at the market place down the street.

And above it all at the far end of Konohagakure was Hokage Tower, standing tall and proud over the rest of the town. The Tower, as always, gleamed with fresh paint and metal reinforcements. Naruto's father had always told him that the tower was like a proud sentry, watching over and protecting the citizens. The blond grinned, a warm feeling of happiness running through him at seeing it again.

"If you'll excuse me," Sasuke said, "I'm going to head down to the market and see if I can trade for supplies. I'll meet up with you later."

Sakura opened her mouth to argue, intending to say that they should all stick together and make decisions as a group. Then she remembered that Sasuke had only agreed to travel with them until they reached Konohagakure, and soon they would be parting ways. Sasuke had the right to make his own decisions about his supplies. So she nodded her assent. "We'll see you later, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke turned and headed down the street, toward the cries of merchants. Naruto and Sakura stared after his retreating back. "You know," Sakura said, "I feel a little sad about Sasuke-kun leaving us. You and him fought a lot, but…the three of us still made a great team."

Naruto was quiet for a moment, trying to quell the sudden, inexplicable sadness that welled up in him upon realizing that Sasuke was going his own separate way now. _Teme…making me feel weird stuff, and being all broody and shit. It'll be good to see the back of him._ "He was annoying anyway," Naruto finally muttered. "Come on Sakura, let's go to the well."

"Naruto-!" Sakura cried out as the blond started tugging her towards the center of town. Although he knew it was unwise to seek anyone out or try to talk to people, Naruto couldn't help but wonder if Kiba was still in Konohagakure, and Lee, and Iruka-sensei as well. He hoped that he'd at least get to see them somewhere around town before he left.

* * *

Once Sasuke was satisfied that Naruto and Sakura were no longer able to see him among the groups of people heading down to the marketplace in threes and fours, the dark-haired man ducked away from the crowd. Pulling his rice paper hat down a bit further over his eyes, the dark-haired man went through a few of the dark, narrow alleyways between buildings, until he came out into a bare, dusty clearing behind a pile of wood that passed for someone's home. The children of Konohagakure, Sasuke knew, often skipped out on their daily chores for a few hours and would play in the alleys and open spaces around houses. Sasuke had never joined them himself-after all, Uchihas did not play with the common town kids-but he'd seen these children as a young child himself, riding to the market on Itachi's shoulders. The other children had all seemed to be filth-encrusted and wearing little more than rags as they darted around buildings and skirted shopkeepers. To Sasuke's seven-year old mind, it had seemed like a wild and fun existence. He had begged his older brother to be allowed to play too, but Itachi had refused to let Sasuke out of his sight. _"I don't want you to get lost or hurt, otouto," _Itachi had said, smiling down at Sasuke in that enigmatic way he'd always had about him.

Little seemed to have changed in the time since Sasuke had been gone. The children's faces were still streaked and smudged with dirt, and they were still wearing old rags that were so faded they were nearly colorless. Sasuke went up to a small boy sitting at the edge of the dusty space, playing with an insect he'd caught while watching a nearby group of kids kick a rock around.

"Hey," Sasuke said. The kid looked up at him and was instantly on his feet, dropping the bug that had been crawling through his fingers onto the ground. He was small, not even coming up to Sasuke's waist when standing.

"My…my mommy says I'm not s'posed to talk with strangers," the boy said warily as he backed away from Sasuke.

"It's OK, I'm not a stranger," Sasuke said, kneeling down to the kid's eye level and giving the boy what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I used to live here myself, back when I was your age. I was hoping you could answer a question I have."

The boy stopped backing away from him, although he still looked pretty wary and kept darting quick glances over towards the nearest alley. Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a bit of bread-quite stale by now, but still edible. He held it out to the boy. "Here."

The boy's dark eyes brightened considerably at the sight of food. He nervously came back towards Sasuke and snatched the bread from his hand. The bit of food was gone in two bites, leaving crumbs mixed in with the dirt around the boy's face. Sasuke had to hold back a wince. But it wasn't like he was much better, after all, having not bathed in a least a week.

"What do you want to know, mister?" All traces of fear were gone from the boy's face. He was now standing right before Sasuke, gazing up at him adoringly. The dark-haired man had to suppress a smirk. Small morsels of food could buy trust so easily from the innocent and naïve people in the world.

"Do you know if a man called Hatake Kakashi still lives in this town?" Sasuke asked. He fervently hoped that his former guardian still lived in Konohagakure. There was no other person Sasuke knew of who could help him fix his flamethrower.

"Old Hatake-san? Yeah, he lives just down the road from the Hokage Tower." The boy pointed. "It's the last house at the end of the road."

"Thanks, kid." Sasuke got to his feet and headed out through the alley. He felt relieved that Kakashi was still in Konohagakure. Admittedly, it hadn't been likely that he would leave, but it was always best to make sure. There was only one other thing Sasuke had to do before seeing him…

Little did the dark-haired man suspect that someone had been watching him speak to the little boy. Hidden in the shadows of a nearby building, a young man was focusing intently on Sasuke, to the point where throbbing veins stood out in sharp relief on his pale face. This man was unusual in that his clothes, although simple, were far cleaner than most of the townspeople's. His long brown hair fell smoothly down to the small of his back. The man's pale face was well-featured, and also free of dirt. But by far the strangest thing about this man were his eyes. They were a pale, pearly white color and reminded one of the thick blankets of fog that sometimes covered Konohagakure in the early morning.

"I knew it," the man muttered quietly to himself. "I guess you aren't dead after all…Uchiha Sasuke."

The man was gone in the blink of an eye, racing down Konohagakure's streets and alleys as if he had wings at his heels. _I have to find Hinata-sama. We need to alert the Hokage of this immediately._

* * *

"Wait a sec…Sakura? Are you Sakura?"

Naruto and Sakura were in sight of the town's main plaza, where a line of people waiting to use the well was already stretching through the plaza and around the nearby homes. Then a girl was running up to them and grabbing Sakura's arm. Both Naruto and Sakura tensed up, preparing for a fight. But Sakura took a look at the girl, saw her long, pale blonde ponytail and blue eyes bright with hope. She gave a cry of disbelief, and the two girls were suddenly embracing while Naruto looked on, feeling very confused.

"_Ino_!" Sakura cried. "I can't believe it's you! How…what are you _doing_ here?"

"You aren't the only one who left the village, you know," Ino let Sakura go, a huge grin on her face at finally getting to see her old friend again. "These two guys were passing through one day, and I begged them to take me along. You'd already been gone a year, and I sure as hell didn't want to spend the rest of my life cutting up plants in that dinky little place. I was more than ready to set out and make my own way in the world.

"So we traveled all around, looking for work. Did some odd jobs along the way-we helped gather crops and till fields, and I'd sometimes bind a broken limb or sell some healing herbs to sick people. Finally we ended up here in Konohagakure. While we were buying supplies, Chouji-he's one of the guys I was traveling with-ended up breaking the jaw of some asshole that tried to pickpocket him. We got called before the Hokage, and I was so scared. I was sure we were gonna get thrown in jail or worse, but it turned out the guy was actually a wanted thief. Thanks to Chouji, the guards were finally able to catch him. So the Hokage asked us to stick around, and gave us jobs patrolling the town. We've been here for almost a year now, and look!" Ino cocked her hip, showing off a piece of wood, with the stylized Leaf symbol of Konohagakure carved into it, tied around her waist with a strip of black cloth like a belt. It was identical to those worn by the guards of Konohagakure. "We've been made town guards!"

"Wow…" was all Sakura could say. The pink-haired girl was stunned at getting to see her childhood friend again, and even more surprised at hearing about Ino's adventures. She could hardly believe that Ino, the cheerful, slightly snobby girl whose family had run the apothecary back home, was actually a guard now. Becoming a town guard was one of the best positions anyone could have. It meant stability and a permanent home. Sakura felt a slight pang of jealousy at Ino's good fortune.

"Uh, Sakura, who is this?" Naruto cut in. He was starting to feel apprehensive about this strange girl who'd suddenly started babbling out her life's story in front of him. Even though Sakura seemed to know her, she was still a guard, and therefore someone who could ask uncomfortable questions and had the authority to act on them.

"Oh-sorry!" Sakura ducked her head in embarrassment. She'd actually forgotten Naruto was there for a moment, she was so caught up in Ino's story. "Ino, this is Naruto. We've been traveling together. Naruto, this is Ino, my old friend from when I was growing up."

Ino stepped forward and looked Naruto up and down. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze-it felt a little like she was undressing him with those sky-blue eyes. The blonde girl let out a low whistle of approval. "Nice, Sakura," she said. "_Very_ nice. Where'd you pick up this hottie?"

"Um…around," Sakura said lamely. It hit the pink-haired girl that while Ino had become a town guard, she and Naruto had been trapped in the Research Facility and were now on the run from Sound Country. There was no way Sakura could tell her friend all of that without putting them both in danger. And if there was one thing Ino loved to do, it was ask questions. Sakura couldn't allow Ino to pry the details of the last year of her life out of her. "Anyway, we really should be getting some water, we can't stick around-"

"So what have you been up to, Sakura?" Ino cut in, apparently having not heard her friend. "You _have _to tell me everything-" She cut herself off suddenly, her eyes going up to stare, surprised, at Sakura's head. "Oh my gosh, your _hair_! You've cut it all off…and not very well, either." The blonde girl reached out to finger the choppy, uneven ends of Sakura's pink hair, which currently fell to the top of her shoulders.

Sakura jerked her head away from Ino's hand. "I just felt like a change, is all," she said shortly. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to Ino the actual circumstances behind her new, short haircut. She and Naruto both hated thinking about it.

"You should come and see my place," Ino said, wisely changing the subject. She'd get the story of why Sakura had gotten rid of her long hairstyle, which had been the girl's pride and joy when they were growing up, later on. "I'll help you even out those messed-up ends you've got going on, and you can tell me all about your adventures."

"Well actually, we aren't planning on sticking around town for very long-" Sakura started to say, but Ino had already clamped onto her arm and was dragging her off.

"Come _on_, Sakura, I haven't seen you in two years! You can spare a little time to catch up with an old friend," Ino wheedled, refusing to release her grip on the pink-haired girl's wrist.

Sakura sighed and let Ino drag her away. She'd missed her old friend, after all, and it couldn't be so bad to talk with Ino for an hour or so if she made sure not to give anything away.

"I won't be long," Sakura called back to Naruto as she let Ino lead her away. "We'll meet back here later, alright?"

"Fine," Naruto mumbled, feeling a bit left out. _She tells _me _not to talk to anyone, and then she runs off with the first person she knows. It's so hypocritical. _Despite his glum thoughts, however, Naruto was secretly glad that his friend had gone off with the blonde girl. Sakura didn't deserve all the trouble she'd been through with him, _because_ of him. She deserved some time to reconnect with an old friend. Figuring that there wasn't much point in getting more water until he and Sakura were ready to leave, Naruto wandered out of the plaza and towards the residential district.

The blond man was oblivious to the fact that he was being watched as well. Hidden in the shadows between two buildings bordering on the plaza was a small, slight girl. She had the same foggy white eyes as the brunet man who'd been watching Sasuke only a few minutes previously, and hers were also focused on Naruto with such an intensity that throbbing veins stood out in stark relief upon her forehead. Like her brunet counterpart, this girl also wore clean, simple clothes and had fair skin and a pretty face. Her long, midnight-blue hair fell to her waist like a shadow.

"I can't believe it…" the girl murmured to herself. "This person must be like me and Neji-kun, and he's actually here in Konohagakure…"

A hand suddenly fell on the girl's shoulder, causing her to jump and whirl around with a tiny "eep!" She put her fists up in a defensive pose, only to drop them back down to her sides again upon seeing the brunet man who had been watching Sasuke earlier behind her. "You _scared_ me, Neji-kun…" the girl murmured.

"Your reflexes are getting better, Hinata-sama," the brunet said with a slight smile. It faded quickly, though, as he imparted his news. "Listen, we must go to the Hokage immediately. The man I was watching earlier is Uchiha Sasuke, no doubt about it"

"What?!" Hinata gasped. "But…he's not dead? What's he been _doing_ all this time?"

"Who knows?" Neji's face was grim. "Have you found anything?"

"Yes, actually. The blond man is called Naruto, and he has a very strange energy signature around him, just like you thought, Neji-kun. I think that he might be someone like us, who escaped from the Research Facility."

Neji's face became even more serious upon hearing Hinata's words. "Then it's even more important that the two of us speak with the Hokage. Come on."

In the blink of an eye, the two were off, running as fast as they could to the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Naruto walked the streets of Konohagakure, simply breathing in the sights and sounds of his former home. He walked past the school, a dilapidated old wooden building where Iruka-sensei had diligently taught children of all ages. He passed the grand Hokage tower, and poked around behind buildings and through the shadowy alleys. The blond quietly watched as children scampered about underfoot in various games of tag, Capture the Flag, and King of the Mountain. It warmed Naruto's heart to see kids still playing in the very same places he had played in as a child. He walked around the edge of the town's high wooden walls, gazing out past the row of sharpened sticks atop it at the workers in the fields, busily plowing and tending to the few hardy crops that would grow in Fire Country soil.

The only places Naruto didn't visit were the residential district where he had lived with his father and grandfather. He also didn't go towards the marketplace, which he'd gone to with his father many times. It made Naruto's heart ache to think of his now-dead father and his missing, possibly dead grandfather. He'd loved them both dearly, and it physically hurt the blond sometimes to know that he would never see his father again, and quite probably wouldn't see his grandfather again, either.

Naruto noticed that he was now walking not over dusty red dirt, but picking his way over charred pieces of wood and twisted, half-melted chunks of metal. Without knowing it or intending to, the blond had somehow wandered into the old Uchiha complex. The Uchiha, along with the Hyuuga, had been the two wealthiest and most prominent families in Fire Country. They'd both secluded their families in large, walled-off compounds reinforced with metal. Both families, adults and children alike, were very seldom seen around town, preferring not to associate themselves with the "common rabble." Naruto remembered his father pointing out one of the Uchihas to him once in the marketplace, but the blond had been very young at the time. He only had a hazy memory of a dark head of hair, weaving about the throngs of people haggling with merchants, until Naruto could no longer see it at all.

One day the town guards had entered the complex after some of the townspeople had reported strange noises inside of it. They found that the entire Uchiha clan had been gruesomely murdered, their bloody corpses lying about in various states of disarray. Some of the bodies had been nearly intact, while others had been found with heads or limbs chopped off. A few were little more than a splattering of flesh, bone, and blood against a wall. It turned out that the oldest Uchiha son, who'd been hailed as an intellectual and fighting prodigy by both his clan and the rest of the town, had suddenly gone mad and murdered his entire family the night before. Then he'd seemingly disappeared, having slipped past the guards and left Konohagakure. To Naruto's knowledge, no one had seen or heard from the Uchiha since.

Naruto still remembered overhearing his father and grandfather discussing the murders one night, when they'd thought he was asleep. The blond wouldn't soon forget their harsh, horrified faces as they'd discussed the murders. He'd had nightmares for several weeks after, dreaming that the oldest Uchiha son had come back and killed his family right in front of him,. Naruto could only look on helplessly and scream for someone to come save him, to help him…

The blond gazed around at the remains of the Uchiha complex. The people of Konohagakure had burned all of it to the ground shortly after the murders. There'd been talk of it being cursed, after all of the death and spilt blood. Only the most desperate townsfolk had tried picking through the remains for anything useful. Now, the once proud Uchiha home, with its' high stone wall and simple but sturdy buildings, was little more than a heap of charred wood.

As Naruto gazed around at the destruction, he saw that he wasn't the only person around. Standing amidst the rubble was a lone figure, little more than a dark silhouette against the bright, setting sun shining in Naruto's eyes. The blond headed towards the person, wondering who in their right mind would voluntarily spend time in this old, supposedly cursed place.

As the blond got closer, he saw with not a little surprise that it was Sasuke. The dark-haired man's rice-paper hat had slipped off of his head to hang around his neck on its' string, leaving his slightly spiked hair free to rustle in the warm evening breeze. Sasuke's eyes were closed, and his body stiff. He appeared to be caught up in some sort of intense daydream or trance. Concerned, Naruto broke the eerie silence around the compound. "Sasuke, are you OK?"

The dark haired man didn't open his eyes, didn't so much as twitch a muscle. Growing increasingly worried, Naruto said loudly, "Come on man, this place isn't safe. Let's get out of here."

Still there was no indication from Sasuke that he'd heard Naruto. Naruto bit his lip, wondering if it was possible for a person to die while standing up. He gripped Sasuke's shoulder and shook the other man lightly. "Oi, teme! Snap out of it!"

_"Aniki…?" Sasuke was seven years old again, and standing in the parlor, staring in wide-eyed horror at the bodies of his parents, slumped one on top of the other. Crouching over them was his beloved older brother, methodically stabbing his mother's body again and again with a long, sharp knife._

_ "Aniki…what…why…?" Sasuke couldn't seem to get the words out. _I must still be dreaming. Any minute now, Mommy will wake me up for breakfast, and Itachi will take me out to play, and this has to some kind of horrible nightmare ohgods Mommy Daddy ohgods Aniki why-

_"This is a test, otouto." Sasuke's eyes were now riveted to his brother's own blood-spattered face. Itachi's dark eyes were cruel and terrible, the eyes of a monster. There was no way that this person was Sasuke's beloved older brother. The boy refused to believe it._

_ There was blood _everywhere_. It pooled across the floor, staining everything, from their best carpet with the Uchiha crest on it, to Itachi's hands and face and clothes, an awful, dark red. Still that knife went in and out of Sasuke's mother's body with a wet, sickening _thunk-thunk_._

_ "This is a trial of my body and of my will," Itachi went on, seemingly oblivious to the tears streaming down Sasuke's traumatized face. "I had to see if I was able to kill them, my own flesh-and-blood family. Do you see now, Sasuke? Their deaths are a test, a way to see if I am worthy of keeping what I love safe…of protecting _you_."_

_ "Are…are you going to kill me too?" Sasuke's voice was a whimper, sounding tiny and scared in his ears._

_ Itachi smiled, and it was a horrible thing to behold. His eyes seemed to shine red in the morning light streaming through the parlor's large picture window. "Run away from here, Sasuke, as fast as you can. Grow up and become strong. And someday, when you are ready, come and find me. See if you are able to defeat me and avenge their deaths."_

_ Then Sasuke was running, as if freed by his brother's missive. The dark-haired boy ran blindly through the dirt paths of the compound, unseeing and uncaring, until he was outside the stone wall of the Uchiha complex. He stumbled, fell hard on his knees, and _screamed_, screamed and screamed and felt as if he couldn't stop screaming, could never stop-_

"…Teme…!"

A voice was penetrating the web of pain, of shock and anger and terrible, debilitating grief around Sasuke. He could hear it despite the sound of his own screaming filling his ears, blocking out everything else. It was a loud, annoying voice too…_Naruto?_

"…Snap out of it, teme!"

Then Sasuke was clawing himself up out of that dark place inside of him, where he was still just a little boy looking at his parents' slaughtered corpses. He fought his way up, up towards the clear light that was the voice pleading with him, begging him to come back to the world again.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he took in a great, sucking breath of air. In the next moment the dark-haired man was doubled over, coughing and choking. The heat, the very air around him was weighing on him with unbelievable pressure. The world itself weighed him down, suffocated him, _drowned_ him…

Sasuke saw a shock of golden hair from the corner of his eye, and then there was a heavy hand thumping on his back. "Stop already!" Sasuke gasped, straightening up and knocking the hand away. "I'm alright." Indeed, Sasuke's coughing fit seemed to have subsided. He took a few experimental breaths of air, and felt relieved when he didn't choke again. The dark-haired man was a bit calmer now…and extremely embarrassed. Sasuke tried his hardest not to let anyone see his fits, when he was dragged kicking and screaming inside himself, to a place filled with blood and bodies and his brother's cold, soulless dark eyes. No one had ever been able to snap Sasuke out of it before, not even Kakashi. No matter how loudly people cried out for him no matter how hard they shook him, Sasuke had to come back himself gradually, in fits and starts, after a few minutes or even hours. _So why is it that Naruto was able to bring me back…?_

Naruto's eyes were locked onto Sasuke's face, shining with concern. "What _happened _there, Sasuke? You went all stiff and you wouldn't move even though I was yelling right in your face. I thought you were dying, man…"

"Sorry." The short apology was out before Sasuke could even think about it. He'd never apologized to anyone for his fits before in his life. It was unacceptable that he should be doing so now, and for someone he'd been ordered to kill, no less. "I just…didn't feel well for a moment," the dark-haired man finished lamely.

Naruto's too-blue gaze was still fixed on him, full of worry and far too many questions. Sasuke just couldn't deal with it right now. He turned away, towards the direction of Kakashi's place.

"Where are you going?" And the dobe had fallen into step beside him. Just great. Sasuke was so not in the mood to deal with Naruto's endless questions and chatter right now.

"To see someone I know who lives here."

"You know someone in Konohagakure? How-" Naruto stopped himself at the look on Sasuke's face, which quite clearly said that under no circumstances would he be answering questions right now. "Fine," Naruto grumbled. "I'll just come with you, then. To, you know, make sure you don't get sick again."

"…Fine." He was only letting the dobe tag along so that he wouldn't have to find him later, Sasuke told himself firmly. It wasn't because he enjoyed Naruto's company at all. Nope, definitely not that.

* * *

A buxom blonde woman leaned over her desk in the Hokage's office, her amber eyes focused intently on the two town guards standing in front of her. They were, of course, none other than Neji and Hinata.

"Uchiha Sasuke, huh?" The Hokage said, after Neji and Hinata had finished their report. "He was presumed to have been killed along with the rest of his family…but his body was never found, after all. And on top of that, he somehow knows Kakashi…how interesting. Do you have any idea what he might be here for?"

"I'm afraid not, Hokage-sama," Neji said. "He arrived here with a blond man and a woman with pink hair. Hinata-sama was watching them."

"The blond man had a very strange energy inside of him, which is probably what Neji-kun sensed earlier," Hinata said in her usual soft, quiet voice. "It had a quite violent feel to it." She shuddered at the thought of that bloodthirsty red energy focused around the blond man's abdomen, swirling furiously about inside of him.

"Do you think he might be dangerous?" The Hokage asked, lacing her fingers together thoughtfully.

"It's…hard to say, Hokage-sama," Hinata replied. "His energy was practically bursting out of him, but he didn't seem like an angry or mean sort of person…"

"It's possible that he's someone like us, someone who's escaped from Sound Country." Neji added.

"Hmm.." The Hokage tapped at her painted red lips with the tip of one perfectly manicured finger. "And the woman?"

"She seemed normal enough," said Hinata. "Yamanaka Ino knew her, actually. They're probably at Ino's place right now."

"Right." The Hokage got to her feet, and gestured for the two guards who had been standing behind her desk on bodyguard duty to come forward. "Lee, you go to Kakashi's and bring Uchiha Sasuke here. Try to find out where the other man he arrived with is, if you can. Shikamaru, you need to bring Ino and her friend here."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the two men said. They were out the door before another word needed to be said.

"You two stay here, I may still need you," the Hokage said to Neji and Hinata. "Shizune!"

A tall, slim woman with short black hair and dark eyes came into the office. "Yes, Tsunade-sama?"

"Bring me anything you can find in the town records about the Uchiha clan, and about Uchiha Sasuke in particular. Whatever you can find-school reports, guards' records, genealogy, I want it all brought here."

"Of course."

"And if you can find any sake, bring that as well!" Tsunade called after Shizune's retreating figure. The blonde woman slumped back down in her chair with a sigh and massaged her temples. "I wish there was more alcohol around…I could really use a drink right about now."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Oh, the Sasuke torture. Poor boy. *pats* :( **

**Remember to leave a review if you got this far! I don't like to beg people for reviews, but I'm a pretty shameless review whore deep down. Tell me you love this story or tell me you hate it, but please leave a review! Your feedback is what motivates me to keep writing after all. :3**

**Much thanks to **moon maiden of time **for reviewing the last chapter, and also for agreeing to attempt a beta for this fic. She's such an awesome, amazing, fantastical person. You guys should all go and check at out her fics right now (after leaving a review, of course.)**

**The next chapter will have Sakura talking about her's and Naruto's time in the mysterious and sinister Sound Research Facility…so keep reading! **


	6. Chapter 6 Sakura Part 1

**Author's Note****: So this is long overdue, huh? Applying for grad school, writing papers, and studying for tests takes up a lot of time. Also, I was really lazy about finishing this up. Once I get going I write a lot, but I often have a lot of time getting started, if that makes any sense. -.- **

**We're finally getting to some background information in this chapter! Hooray! The second half of this chapter is written in Sakura's POV, hence the change from third-person to first-person. There are also several points in this story where Sakura is in awe over what seem to be rather everyday things. The reason for this is that there aren't very many things around anymore that are from before the apocalypse. Being from a small village, Sakura has never seen anything that could really be described as "modern" before. **

**As always, this chapter is being cross-posted to my AFF account, **LostinThought8**. The link can be found in my profile.**

**WARNINGS****: Language, very brief mentions of torture and unethical human experimentation.**

**DISCLAIMER****: Believe me, I wouldn't be applying for grad school if I owned ****_Naruto_. This is a work of fanfiction and I make no money off of it.**

**And now, without further ado…**

* * *

Ino's home was a tiny, one-room wooden shack off of the town's main road. There was only enough room inside of it for three sleeping pallets on the floor, with three small wooden chests nearby. A pit for cooking fires had been dug out of the packed dirt floor, with a small hole in the roof above it to let out the smoke.

To Sakura, it was heaven. Having a real place to sleep that was more than a worn blanket over hard ground was a luxury Sakura had only dreamed of during the past several weeks. The pallets were made simply, of animal skins roughly sewn together and stuffed with dried grass. Still, Sakura couldn't help running her hands along the pallet she was currently sitting on, relishing the feel of the soft skins beneath her fingertips. To lie on soft bedding during the cold Fire Country nights, all wrapped up in warm skins, would be something like heaven in Sakura's opinion.

"Like it, huh?" Ino said with not a small amount of pride, noticing the way Sakura had been stroking the sleeping pallet as if it were something luxurious, like a real bed. The blonde girl was currently kneeling behind her friend, carefully evening out the ends of Sakura's short pink hair with a knife. "I made those pallets myself, you know."

Sakura grinned at that and tried to hold in her snort of laughter. She should have known the stitching was Ino's work, since it looked like a goat had tried to take up a needle in its hooves and sew the skins together.

"Hey, don't think I can't hear you laughing!" Sakura could practically hear her blonde friend pouting behind her. "It took me weeks to finish sewing those, I'll have you know. Weeks of working by firelight, with absolutely _no _help from Shikamaru because 'sewing is too troublesome.' And Chouji usually takes the nighttime patrols, so -."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sakura interrupted, laughing. "If it weren't for Ino and her brilliant sewing skills, everyone would be sleeping naked in the dirt. We should all be grateful that she toils away for us, day after day, with no thought to her own comfort."

"Oh, be quiet, you," Ino replied, but lightly enough that Sakura knew she wasn't mad. "Anyway, you must have been traveling a long time to think that a pile of skins and grass is anything special. Where have you been?"

Sakura bit her lip nervously, wracking her brains for a story that Ino would believe. There was no way she could tell her friend the truth: _"I rescued this boy from a secret Research Facility in the middle of Sound Country, where he was being used as a lab experiment. Now we're on the run from the Sound Country authorities that are out to kill us. Oh yeah, and we're also heading towards the Land of Waves because Naruto's been having crazy dreams." _It sounded unbelievable even to Sakura's ears. There was no way in hell anyone else would buy it.

"And that guy you've been traveling with – Naruto, right?" Ino was still talking, oblivious to Sakura's unease. "Isn't he a sight for sore eyes! Where'd you find a guy like that, Billboard Brow?"

"Um…"

"Are the two of you…_involved_? Come on, you can tell me! 'Cause if you're not, I'm definitely taking him."

Sakura blushed furiously at that. "Me and Naruto -!"

"Ino."

Both Ino and Sakura whirled around at the sudden voice behind them, Ino bringing the knife up before her in anticipation of an attack. She visibly relaxed, however, at the sight of the man lounging against the doorway. Tall and lanky, with dark hair tied up into a short, spiky ponytail atop his head, he looked supremely bored. The man was currently frowning at Ino as if it was her fault he was currently standing there at all, and he would quite rather be somewhere, anywhere, else, thank you very much.

"Shikamaru!" Ino cried, lowering the knife. "Knock or something, why don't you! I nearly stabbed your eyes out!"

"Mmm. That would have been troublesome," Shikamaru replied. His voice sounded incredibly bored, as if having a knife brandished at him was a common, everyday occurrence. Still, Sakura didn't miss the way his brown eyes glanced quickly over at her. Although Shikamaru had only looked her way for a moment, Sakura couldn't shake the feeling of being analyzed. The pink-haired girl's body tensed, looking at Shikamaru with no small amount of suspicion.

"Well, you're just in time to meet my friend, anyway," Ino continued. "Sakura, this is Shikamaru -."

"You need to come with me, Ino. Hokage-sama wants to see you."

"Um…OK? This is awfully sudden…Did she say what about?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "She didn't say. But she wants your friend Sakura to come, too."

Sakura got to her feet at this. "Why? I only just got here, I haven't done anything."

"She's been with me this whole time, Shikamaru," Ino added, giving the man a suspicious look of her own.

"You're not in trouble…at least, I don't think you are," Shikamaru said. "The Hokage wants to talk to both of you, though. So come on already, this is all very bothersome."

Sakura felt a feeling of dread wash over her. There was no way that anything good could come of the leader of Fire Country wanting to speak to her.

Ino sighed, irritated. "Come on Sakura," she said, taking Sakura's hand just before the pink-haired girl could try to make a run for it. "The sooner we meet with the Hokage, the sooner we can relax."

* * *

Sakura wished for the thousandth time since they left the house that Ino and Shikamaru weren't walking so close to her. Ino was still holding her hand, in fact, probably as a way of reassuring her pink-haired friend, who was currently tense as a coiled spring. Still, Sakura would probably have a better chance of escaping the two town guards, finding Naruto, and getting the hell out of Konohagakure if Ino and Shikamaru were a few feet away from her. If the pink-haired girl were to try and get away now, she would have to fight one or both of them. That would definitely call the attention of more guards, and then Sakura would be carted up to the Hokage Tower in pieces.

Worst-case scenarios ran through the pink-haired girl's head as if on a loop. The Konohagakure guards had somehow found Naruto out and wanted to interrogate her before capturing him. Sasuke and Naruto had gotten into a fight and destroyed some part of the town. The Sound Country military was here, demanding that Naruto and Sakura be released to them. _Or maybe Naruto's gone…_feral _again, like he did with Sasuke yesterday…_

"We're here," Ino announced, as the two of them walked Sakura into the large wooden and metal structure that was Hokage Tower. Although she had no idea what was going to happen to her, Sakura couldn't help but marvel at the row of large glass windows near the top of the Tower. The pink-haired girl never thought that she'd ever see real glass windows in her life, when the only windows she'd ever known were holes cut into the wall and covered with a bit of ragged cloth.

They went up three flights of stairs – Sakura had never been in a building so tall before, either – and stopped before a wooden door at the top floor. Shikamaru reached out and knocked smartly.

"Who's there?" Came a young, feminine voice from within.

"Nara Shikamaru, with Yamanaka Ino and Sakura," was Shikamaru's bored-sounding answer. Sakura's eyes widened at that. No one ever gave out family names freely anymore. Not during a time when there was no way of knowing who to trust, when there were people who were willing to track you down and then slit your throat because they wanted something that you had. And for Shikamaru to say his name so freely, in such a casual manner…he had to be quite confident of his position in Konohagakure, and the protection it would afford him.

"Enter," said the woman, and Shikamaru opened the door. Ino and Sakura walked in behind him, and Sakura had to stifle a small gasp of surprise at the room. She'd never seen a room with such finery in it before.

The entire room was bathed in warm, yellow late afternoon light that streamed in through the large windows, from which Sakura could see the entire town laid out before her eyes. And the floor actually had a carpet on it! It was ragged at the edges and bleached almost white by the sun, but it was still an actual _carpet_. There was a desk as well, battered and scarred by what must have been many years of use. Two chairs that looked newly carved were situated before it. All of these things spoke to Sakura about the great love and respect the people of Konohagakure must have for their Hokage, if none of these things had been taken away by now and remade into clothing, or beds, or weapons.

"I take it that you are Sakura?" The woman's voice was not unkind, but it carried an unmistakable tone of strength and authority. Sakura's eyes immediately went to the woman seated behind the desk. She looked awfully young to be a Hokage, was Sakura's first thought. The woman's hair was long and blonde, tied neatly back into two ponytails. She wore simple but clean clothes – a pair of loose pants and a shirt, with a long green coat draped over her shoulders. Her mouth and cheeks appeared to be highlighted, somehow, with some sort of paint Sakura had never seen before. The pink-haired girl's eyes were caught and held by this Hokage's. She openly studied Sakura, fixing the girl in place as if she were a fly caught in those bright pools of amber.

"Shizune," the Hokage said. A dark-haired and –eyed woman, who had been standing quietly by the Hokage's side up until now, snapped to attention. "Get Neji and Hinata for me."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the woman said quietly as she exited the room.

"Thank you for being so prompt, Shikamaru," the woman continued. "You and Ino may wait outside in the hallway."

Shikamaru and Ino both nodded and left the room, leaving Sakura alone with the leader of Fire Country.

The Hokage stood up and turned to face the large windows, looking out over the town with an unreadable expression on her face. Several seconds of tense silence passed before the blonde woman finally spoke. "My name is Tsunade, and I am the Godaime Hokage here. Please, sit." She nodded towards one of the wooden chairs.

"Where's Naruto?" Sakura spoke sharply. Her hands unconsciously curled into fists at her sides.

"I don't know," the Hokage answered, completely unruffled by Sakura's outburst. "Hopefully, he is with your friend Sasuke. I want to speak with both of them as well; I've sent a member of my guard to retrieve the two of them."

"You can't _do _this to us!" Sakura knew it was a bad idea to be yelling at a woman who had an entire country's military under her command, but she just couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. "We only wanted to fill our canteens and leave! We haven't done anything to you. And Naruto and I barely even know Sasuke; he's just some dehydrated guy we found on the side of the road. We only planned to travel with him until we got here. So if he's done anything, it isn't Naruto's fault or mine -"

Tsunade turned to Sakura for the first time since everyone else had left the room, pinning her once more with sharp amber eyes. All of Sakura's arguments died in her throat under the weight of the Hokage's gaze.

"You aren't in trouble, Sakura," she said gently. "Actually, I brought you here in order to help you."

At that moment, the door to the Hokage's office opened again, and the woman with the short black hair – Shizune – entered. Behind her two other people filed in, a man and a woman, the likes of which Sakura had never seen before. They obviously came from a wealthy family, as both wore clean clothing that was markedly less ragged than what Sakura had on. They looked to be related as well, as both the man and the woman had long, sleek dark hair, fine features, and pale skin. Both of them also wore the wooden badge of a Konohagakure town guard.

However, nothing about the pair caught Sakura's attention as much as their eyes did. There was no sign of pupil or iris in both pairs of eyes, only a flat, milky white, as if they had taken clouds for eyes. Sakura would have thought them blind, but both the man and the woman were staring right at her. Sakura felt as if those strange eyes were piercing right through her, much worse than any look the Hokage had thrown her.

"Sakura, this is Neji and Hinata. They're cousins, from the Hyuuga family," Tsunade said as she sat behind her desk once more. Again, Sakura was surprised that the Hokage would give out information like this to her, a stranger, yet Neji and Hinata didn't seem to be bothered by it. On the contrary, the woman, Hinata, was smiling gently at her.

"What…what's wrong with…" Sakura whispered. She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

"It's our eyes, isn't it," Hinata said softly. "Seeing them for the first time is shocking, I know."

Sakura could only nod, unable to look away from those too-white eyes.

"Our eyes weren't always like this," Hinata continued. "Neji and I both used to have normal eyes. But when we were little…"

"We were taken," Neji cut in, his voice direct and quite a bit harsher than his cousin's. "Kidnapped from Konohagakure by bandits and sold as slaves to Sound Country. Then we were brought to a laboratory, and our eyes were taken out and replaced by the ones we have now." He turned his head aside, his brow furrowing in anger.

Sakura could only stare, unable to believe what she was hearing. Could these people truly be former human test subjects, like Naruto? If that was the case, why were they here now? The Sound Research Facility wasn't known for being merciful with their experiments, in Sakura's experience.

"We managed to escape after several years, and make our way back to Konohagakure," Neji said. "These eyes we have now are called the Byakugan. They allow us to see over long distances, as well as sense the different kinds of natural energies that run through people."

"Your friend's energy was unlike anything we've seen before," Hinata broke in. "I've never seen energy so violent and unstable before. We knew right away that he must be like us. Energy like his just isn't found naturally in humans."

Sakura stared at the Hyuuga cousins as if they were ghosts visiting her in the night. She had never once thought that there might be others like Naruto out in the world, people who had managed to escape the Research Facility. It had been hard enough for her and Naruto to get out. And yet, the physical evidence of torturous years of experiments was plain in their unnatural eyes, and in the sorrow and anger on their faces. "Even if you are…like Naruto," the pink-haired girl said, "I'm not just going to tell you about what happened to him. I don't even know a lot of it myself. I was never experimented on at the Research Facility; I was just one of the people they forced to work there…" Sakura trailed off, unwilling to divulge more information. She'd said too much as it was.

"I don't want to hear about what you think Naruto's experience was, Sakura," Tsunade said. "I want to hear about what you went through, what your experience was like in that…_place_." The blonde woman spat out the last word as if it were something disgusting on her tongue.

"Why?" Sakura looked at the Hokage, Shizune, and the Hyuuga cousins with no small amount of suspicion. "Why do you give a damn about what we've been through? I don't even know any of you!"

"Because what's going on in Sound Country isn't right," Tsunade replied. Her eyes seemed to glow with a strange intensity as she spoke. "I do not like to see people suffer. Even in these harsh times, no human being should have their bodies and minds tampered with in such a way. Such an act is a violation, and it has happened to two of my own countrymen, no less." The Hokage nodded at Neji and Hinata. "I want to find a way to stop this madness, if I can.

"Also," Tsunade's voice dipped so low that Sakura wouldn't have heard her at all if she hadn't been standing right next to the woman's desk. "I feel partly responsible for all of this."

Sakura bit her lip, still unsure as to whether or not she should tell the Hokage what she wanted to know. The door was unblocked…if she moved fast enough, she might be able to get out of here, lose herself in the town, find Naruto…

"Please, Sakura-chan," Hinata's soft voice caught the pink-haired girl's attention. "Tsunade-sama has always been very kind to us. When we got back to Konohagakure, many of the townspeople wanted to kill us. They thought we'd been possessed by evil spirits because of our eyes. But she protected us, gave us positions as guards. We've been able to regain our standings here because of her."

Next to Hinata, Neji nodded in agreement. "Unless you tell the Hokage-sama what she needs to know, she can't help you or your friend."

Sakura looked over at Shizune, who smiled and nodded at her, then back to Tsunade. Strangely enough, Sakura felt safe here, for the first time in what seemed like forever. Although any of these people could have taken her by force and made her tell them what she knew of the Research Facility, they were asking for her assistance like an equal. Maybe…just maybe, the Hokage really could help her and Naruto.

Sakura was so very, very tired of running away. If these people could really do something that would help her to live her life in peace, she had to take that chance.

Sakura sat down in one of the chairs across from Tsunade's desk, took a deep breath, and began her story.

* * *

I grew up in a little village on the outskirts of Earth Country. It was basically a loose circle of stone huts around a small well, with some plots of farmland here and there. We got a fairly steady stream of people coming in from the main town, Iwagakure, though. You see, my parents knew quite a bit about medicine. Together with the Yamanaka, who had knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants, they set up a small hospital in our village. It was a slightly larger stone and mud hut that was right next to our house, with a few pallets on the floor for patients who were too sick or too injured to return home after treatment.

My parents started teaching me about healing the human body as soon as I was old enough to walk. Growing up in a place where people regularly came through with all sorts of sicknesses and injuries, I learned quickly. Mom and Dad were so proud of me – they said I was a natural at medicine, and that someday I would become better at it than they were.

Ino was my best friend in the village. She was the only other girl around my age there, so I guess it was only natural that we became close. We shared all of our closest thoughts and secrets, and spent as much time as we could in each other's company. Oh, we fought as well – Ino said my forehead was large and called me Billboard Brow, I called her Ino-pig. She thought I was a scaredy-cat, and I thought she was vain and stuck-up. But that didn't change the fact that we were as close as sisters. Some of my best memories growing up are when Ino and I went into the mountains to pick herbs. Having the entire day to ourselves, away from the cares and responsibilities of the village, was like heaven.

Our families practically lived together as well. The Yamanka sold medical herbs and plants in their home across from us. They were with us almost every day, using their knowledge of medicinal plants to treat illnesses and relieve the pain from injuries or operations. We shared all of our knowledge of the human body and various illnesses and injuries with them in return. I remember sitting around the Yamanakas' table in the evenings, helping to dry and sort herbs with Ino while our parents discussed the various ailments of their patients.

By the time I was eight years old, I was bandaging wounds and helping set broken bones. By the time I was twelve, I was assisting my parents during surgeries, and treating minor illnesses on my own. At fifteen, I was able to examine and treat patients, with only a little help from my parents. I was able to identify hundreds of different kinds of herbs and their effects on the human body. Mom and Dad introduced me as a nurse to anyone who came into the hospital, and said that I only needed a few more years of practice before I'd be a full-fledged doctor like they were. Helping people heal was very fulfilling for me. I felt like I'd finally found a purpose in life, and knew without a doubt that I wanted to work in medicine for the rest of my life.

Then I had to leave.

It was always difficult to grow anything in Earth Country. The ground there is hard, dry, and full of stones. We were surrounded by mountains on all sides, so it was difficult to get supplies from elsewhere. The weather was unpredictable as well – it could go months without raining and people would have to lug water in buckets for a mile from the nearest river in order to water their crops. Or it would rain for weeks on end and the river would run over, making the ground too wet for crops. What did grow was tough, dry, and hardy, like the soil it came from. Despite all of that though, we usually had enough food to eat. My family was too busy with our hospital to grow any crops of our own, but we were almost always paid with food from the people we treated. We never had an abundance of food, but we didn't go hungry either.

In the summer after my eighteenth birthday, though, things got bad. The worst drought in anyone's memory hit Earth Country. Word was that people were dying on the streets in Iwagakure from hunger. Our own crops suffered badly. The river was barely a trickle, and there was just no water for growing anything. My family's patients started giving us less and less food as payment, if they even bothered to pay at all. One old woman I treated for a bad cough could only give me a small handful of dried berries, which I ate in a few bites and was still hungry afterwards. I remember nights where the only food in the house was a small bowl of rice, and my parents would give me most of it. They always gave me the largest portion of whatever food we had. "You're still young, Sakura. You need the food more than we do," Mom and Dad told me. "We can go a few days without eating, but you need the right nutrition in order to keep yourself healthy."

What little food the Yamanaka had went to Ino's mother. She had grown ill during these hard times, and was confined to her bed. Ino worried about her constantly, and our days together had been mostly reduced to tense, anxious silence.

One day Mom fainted from hunger in the hospital, right in the middle of bandaging someone's sprained ankle. She was all right, but that was when I knew that I couldn't stay. I felt awful watching my parents give me food, and even more terrible about eating it anyway. It seemed that I was always hungry back then. Before I could even think about refusing any extra food, it was already in my stomach. So I decided then and there that I was going to go out and find my own way in the world. Plenty of people my age and younger left their homes to make their own living in the world, and so as not to be a burden on their families. It was past time that I went, too.

I never told my parents in person that I was leaving. It was cowardly, I know, but I couldn't bear to tell Mom and Dad that their only child was leaving home because there wasn't enough food. The looks on their faces would have been too much. Dad would probably try and convince me not to go, and that he needed me in the hospital. Mom would probably break down and start crying. I would never be able to go if that happened. So I packed a bag of supplies, left my parents a note, and told Ino to meet me by the riverbank that night. I could leave without speaking to my parents, but I couldn't leave without telling Ino.

"You're leaving, aren't you," she said as soon as I showed up with a cloth bag dangling from my shoulders. There was a full moon that night, coloring everything in a silvery glow. What was left of the river sparkled like a million stars. Ino's and my hair looked practically white.

"Yeah," I said. There was no point sugar-coating it by now.

"Damn it, Billboard Brow," Ino muttered, turning away and kicking a rock into the riverbed. "I want to go with you. I don't wanna spend the rest of my life here in the middle of nowhere."

"You need to stay here and help take care of your mother," I reminded her. "And my parents are going to need someone to help in the hospital too."

"Why the hell are you going?!" Ino whirled around to glare at me. I'd never seen her look so angry before. "We need you here. You're the best at what you do, I've never seen anyone so good at healing before." Then, so quietly that I almost didn't hear it, "_I _need you here."

I reached out and hugged the girl I thought of as a sister, pressing her tightly against me. Ino hugged me back just as tight, and I could feel wetness on her cheeks. "There's no food," I whispered, my own voice catching in my throat as I spoke. "I can't stay here and watch my parents starve."

"Will I ever see you again?"

I didn't answer. There was no way of knowing for sure, and we both knew that it was foolish to promise when I didn't know if I could keep it.

Ino pulled back slightly and gave me a trembling smile. "Take care of yourself, Sakura. If I hear you've died, I'll drag you back from the grave myself and kick your ass."

I smiled back, tears threatening to spill over any second now. "Thanks, Ino-pig. I love you. Take care of yourself, OK?"

"I will. Love you too, Billboard Brow."

And with the light of a full moon above me, I left my little village, the only home I had ever known, behind me.

* * *

**Author's Note****: I wanted to tell Sakura's story entirely in this chapter, but I was already at ten pages in Word and I felt like this was a good stopping point. I decided to split it up into two parts.**

**I know, there was a terrible lack of Sasuke and Naruto in this chapter. ^^;; We'll be getting back to them shortly, don't worry!**

**Also, the reason the forehead protectors in this story are made out of wood instead of metal is because there's a shortage of metal in the world of "Flamethrower." I didn't think it would be feasible to have the people of Fire Country waste a precious resource on forehead protectors. ^^**

**Remember to feed your author and review! :D It helps motivate me to write faster, honest!**

**REVIEW CORNER**** Thanks for Reviewing: **KariNeko, bridmatt, moon maiden of time


	7. Chapter 7 Sakura Part 2

**Author's Note:**** Wow I'm back. Remember how I said that I was going to try for shorter times between updates? Yeah, I've been lazy. I've also been filling prompts on the Assassin's Creed Kink Meme, since **_**Assassin's Creed III **_**was so wonderful that it flung me headfirst into the Assassin's Creed fandom, and I was hooked. ^^;;; My deepest apologies, loyal readers who probably thought I abandoned this fic. I have not abandoned it, as you can see.**

**There's going to be one more chapter of Sakura's backstory after this one. I wanted to finish it in this chapter, but it already clocks in at around six pages and I didn't want it to be longer than that. Sakura's part will definitely be over by the next chapter, though, and then we can get back to the boys.**

**As always, this chapter is being uploaded to my AFF account, **LostinThought8**. The link can be found in my profile.**

**WARNINGS:**** Minor Character Death (it's a very minor character though), language, imprisonment, and blood/gore.**

**DISCLAIMER:**** I do not own **_**Naruto**_**, nor do I make any money off of writing this fic. :C**

**And now, without any further ado:**

* * *

My first stop was Iwagakure, in order to find a group of people to travel with. Even though I grew up in the middle of nowhere, I wasn't stupid. I knew it would be suicide to travel the wilderness alone. As the largest town in Earth Country, Iwagakure was a popular stop for traders. This made it a good place to pick up supplies and prepare yourself for a journey, especially if you were a young person like me, who was leaving home for the first time.

I stayed in Iwagakure for a few days, hanging around the marketplace and letting it drop that I had medical training. Before long, I found a group who was willing to let me tag along with them. It was always a good idea, I learned, to have someone in a traveling party who could treat illnesses and injuries along the way. Such people were in high demand, especially for long journeys. It wasn't long before we set out.

The people I traveled with were a well-outfitted, careful group who always made sure that everyone had ample food and rest. We kept a rotating watch at night and displayed our weapons prominently when on the road, so we didn't get much trouble from bandits. All the same, it was difficult for me to get close to anyone. Whenever we got to a settled area, either someone new would join us, or someone else would decide to stick around in order to find work or leave with a different traveling party. I didn't want to get attached to people I might never see again. It had been hard enough leaving my parents and Ino, I didn't want to be exchanging tearful good-byes every time I reached a town or village.

I traveled the different lands for what must have been over a year, though it was difficult to tell with no reliable calendar. However, I couldn't seem to find a place where I was comfortable enough to settle down. I'd stay a few weeks or months in one place, helping to gather crops, or caring for the sick or injured, in exchange for food and a place to sleep. But my wanderlust always seemed to return, and before long I'd find myself joining up with another group and setting out again.

Eventually I ended up in Wind Country, living in Sunagakure with a kind old woman everyone called Granny Chiyou. Granny Chiyou was Sunagakure's healer, and one of the oldest people I'd ever met. It seemed to me that even her wrinkles had wrinkles! Despite her age, though, Granny Chiyou was incredibly strong. She'd sometimes treat as many as twenty people in one day, if she needed to. I'd seen her lug two large, heavy buckets full of animal dung for the fire for half a mile back to the house, and not once stopping to rest along the way. It was Granny Chiyou who taught me how to fight, how to use my body and feet and fists as a weapon. She taught me all about poisons and antidotes, and how the human body processed and reacted to different substances, in her experience. She taught me how to be a stronger person, how to stand and fight on my own instead of relying on others for protection. I cared for her as if she was my own flesh and blood. I like to think she thought of me in the same way. She was certainly very fond of me, anyway.

I lived with Granny Chiyou and her grandson, Sasori, for two years. Sasori's parents had died when he was very young, and Granny Chiyou was the only family he had. I was never close to Sasori the way I was with his grandmother, though. He almost never spoke, either to me or to Chiyou, and spent most of his days playing with these little wooden dolls Granny Chiyou had made for him that were crafted to look like his parents. Sometimes I'd catch him just staring at me, blankly, with those creepy, dark eyes of his. It gave me chills. I could never figure out if he liked me or not, or even how he felt about his grandmother. He never showed any emotion, and seemed to me as blank and empty as the dolls he coveted.

One morning, I woke up around dawn, as usual, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast and start on my chores for the day. I was surprised to see Sasori sitting in the kitchen, since he didn't usually get up until a few hours after I did. But there he was sitting at the kitchen table, playing with those little wooden dolls of his like he always was.

Then I noticed Granny Chiyou, slumped down on the floor at Sasori's feet in a growing puddle of blood. Sasori was covered in blood too, on his hands and face and all down the front of his clothes. His dolls had large splotches of blood on them, too. It was, and still is, one of the most horrible things I'd ever seen in my life. I wanted to scream, but no sounds would come out of my mouth. I could only stand there and stare at Sasori, who had what I suddenly knew was his grandmother's blood smeared all over him.

He looked up, then, and _smiled_ at me, for the first time since I'd started living with Granny Chiyou. Those intense eyes of his seemed to cut right through me like a knife. I knew, then, that Granny Chiyou was dead and Sasori had killed her. I had never been more scared of another human being in my life. I turned and ran out of the house, out of Sunagakure and into the desert. I didn't stop running until I was in a little village on the outskirts of Wind Country, where I collapsed in the sand and just _sat _there, breathing harshly, for what must have been hours, since it was dark when I got up again.

I knew I could never go back to Sunagakure. I was terrified of what Sasori might do to me, and worried that I might be blamed, somehow, for Granny Chiyou's death. The people of Sunagakure, like everywhere else, were deeply distrusting of outsiders. I didn't want to risk going back there and getting locked up or killed for Granny Chiyou's murder.

I didn't think about Granny Chiyou much after that. It was too painful for me. I had nightmares for weeks, of standing in that kitchen while Sasori laughed over her corpse. Sometimes, in those dreams, Granny Chiyou would get up as well and scream at me for running away and not stopping Sasori. I always woke up in a cold sweat afterwards, panting as if I'd just run a mile.

* * *

I felt much better once I'd scrounged up some supplies and started traveling with a group again. Being out on the road kept me too busy to think about Granny Chiyou, and too tired to dream at night. And so during these travels, I made my way into Sound Country.

The people I was traveling with weren't planning on staying in Sound Country long. We were only going to spend the night near a small village on the outskirts before continuing on to Water Country. However, I was running low on supplies, and most of the things I had with me were travel-worn and on the verge of falling apart. I thought that it would be a good idea for me to work for a few months in order to get fresh traveling gear and supplies. The next morning, I said goodbye to my traveling companions and went into the village to see what work I could find.

I asked around at a few places, offered up my skill at treating wounds and illnesses in exchange for supplies, but I was having no luck. I was starting to get desperate when a man came up to me. He was wearing a forehead protector with the Sound Country guard symbol on it. "Excuse me, miss?" He said.

"I haven't done anything, I swear!" I said, almost automatically. I couldn't keep the fear out of my voice, much as I would have liked to. This guard was huge and bulky, with at least two knives strapped to his hips and the biggest gun I'd ever seen. I knew I had no chance in a fight with him. "If…if you want me to leave now, I'll go."

He smiled at me in response. "There's no need for that. You haven't done anything wrong, miss. I thought I heard you say earlier that you had medical training?"

"Err…yes, I did. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Not me, no. Actually, I work for a man not too far off from here who's been looking for a medic lately. He runs a…hospital, of sorts. Would you be interested in coming with me and speaking to him?" The guard kept smiling down at me, and I found myself relaxing just a bit. He had a kind face, despite all the weapons.

"OK," I said, ignoring the nagging feeling in my gut that said this was a bad idea. The guard seemed nice enough, and I really needed the work. I figured that I could just talk to his boss and leave if I didn't like the place.

I was such an idiot.

The guard only told me that his boss's name was Kabuto. When I asked him what sort of hospital it was Kabuto ran, and what might be expected of me there, he only shook his head. "You'll have to ask Kabuto-sensei that yourself, I'm afraid," he said, and that was all I could get out of him about it.

The guard took me to a place a mile or so away from the village. It was easily the biggest building I'd ever seen in my life, made entirely of dark stone and gleaming metal. It was surrounded by a metal fence topped with barbed wire, and I could see and hear sparks of electricity all along the metal wires. Only the gate seemed like it wasn't electrified, but that was guarded by men just as big and burly as the guard who accompanied me, and were armed to the teeth. The sight of it made my throat dry with fear. This looked more like some sort of fortress than a hospital.

I didn't have time to process my fears before I was being swept inside through a heavy stone door. I followed the guard through what seemed to be endless twisting and turning corridors, narrow passageways with thick stone walls that made me feel claustrophobic. There were no windows, only electric bulbs stuck in the walls to light the way. The floor was made of something I'd never seen before, some kind of shiny, tiled stuff that my shoes squeaked against with every step. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a place like this existed, yet all I wanted to do was leave as soon as possible. All this technology from Before in one place was rubbing me the wrong way.

I saw nothing in that place that gave me the idea it was a hospital. There were no doctors or nurses, no patients, no treatment rooms. Occasionally we passed another guard, or someone else would dart out from a darkened room along the corridors and hurry off without meeting my eyes. But the place seemed pretty deserted.

Finally, we came to Kabuto's office, down two flights of stairs at the end of the hall. We were granted admittance after the guard knocked and stated his business. The room seemed to be filled entirely with gleaming metal countertops and strange equipment that I had no words for. Different liquids and substances bubbled and hissed away in glass containers on some of the counters. There were so many lightbulbs that the harsh glare hurt my eyes.

Kabuto waved the guard out and told me to take a seat on a hard plastic chair near the counter he was currently working at. I disliked him immediately. He asked me all sorts of questions, about how long I'd been working at medicine, why I was traveling and for how long, and what sorts of healing I knew how to do. The entire time he leaned against one of the counters and smirked at me, as if I was a small animal that had crawled into a trap. The lights flashed off of his glasses in such a way that I couldn't see his eyes, only the flashes of his thin, round spectacles. It made him seem inhuman.

I answered Kabuto's questions as briefly as I could. It felt like I was sitting in that room with him for ages. Finally, Kabuto stopped asking questions and simply looked at me for several long moments. I felt like he was analyzing me, and I could practically _feel_ his eyes as they moved across my body. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, and then Kabuto finally said, "Congratulations, Sakura-chan. You're hired. I could use someone with your skills around here."

"Thank you very much for the offer, Kabuto-sensei, but I'm afraid that my answer is no," I said, as firmly and politely as I could, resisting the urge to get up and spit in his face before running out of his horrible office. "I don't feel that I'm really capable of helping you. I think that it would be better if I looked for work elsewhere…" I trailed off when Kabuto's only response was silence, and a slowly widening smirk.

"So, um, I guess I'll be going now…" I said, getting up from the chair and turning to leave.

I stopped when I heard Kabuto's low chuckling behind me. "Ah, Sakura-chan," he said, shaking his head at me as if I were a small child who'd done something particularly amusing. "You make it sound as if I'm giving you a choice.

"You see, I have a terribly hard time finding people with the right sort of knowledge and expertise to work around here. So I'm afraid that I really can't let someone with your medical skills go. I do hope you'll understand." He reached out and gently pressed a small button on the counter next to him. It made a quiet buzzing sound, and a moment later the door burst open and two guards came rushing in.

"Take her," Kabuto said, waving a hand in my direction. In the next instant the guards had grabbed a tight hold of my arms and legs, and were dragging me out of the room.

"Wha…NO! No, let me go! I said no! HELP! HELP ME, SOMEBODY!" I shouted, twisting and writhing in the guards' grip to no avail. Kabuto was already turning back to his work, as the wooden door slammed shut behind him. I yelled myself hoarse as the men carried me off, back through the stairs and more narrow corridors. I cursed and wriggled and tried desperately to break the guards' grip, but their hands were like iron bands around me. At one point I managed to free one of my legs and kick one of the guards holding me, but he only frowned at me before grabbing it again and holding onto it even more tightly.

The guards threw me into a small, dark room. One of them forced me into a headlock while the other took away all of my weapons. Then they were gone, shutting the heavy door behind them. I heard the clattering sound of what had to be a very large, heavy lock, and then I was alone.

My new quarters were made entirely of stone, hard and cold to the touch, with only a single flickering candle in the corner throwing faint light upon a sleeping mat of rough cloth. It was a miserable place that only served to remind me that I was now a prisoner in this terrible place.

I didn't take my situation sitting down, however. I banged on the door and yelled for help until my hands were raw and bleeding and my throat was too raw for me to speak. The door didn't even budge no matter how hard I hit it. I couldn't hear anything outside, not even footsteps. I'd never felt more alone in my life. Part of me wondered if I'd been thrown in here to die. Finally I curled up in the corner and sobbed, trying desperately to control the feeling of panic clawing its' way through my chest.

I don't know how long I was in the room for that first night. There were no windows or any other method of keeping track of the time. Eventually the candle burned out and I was left in complete darkness, not even able to see my own hand in front of my face. I was too scared to try and sleep, but I still must have dozed off eventually, because the next thing I remember was the door opening and two guards coming in. I squinted, the light from the hall hurting my eyes after so much time in the dark.

"Come on," one of the guards grunted at me. "You're coming with us, kid. Kabuto-sensei says you've got work to do."

"No," I hissed at them. "I said I wasn't going to help him. I don't care how long you keep me in this fucking hole for, I will _never _help someone like Kabuto."

In the next instant a gun was being pointed at my face. "You work or you die, bitch. Kabuto-sensei's orders." I could see the glint of the guard's teeth as he leered down at me.

As you might imagine, I wasn't keen on the idea of dying, not on that day or on any day after. I got up, and followed the guards out.

* * *

**Author's Note:**** The next chapter marks the end of the focus on Sakura. After her backstory is finished, Sasuke and Naruto and their relationship will be the focus for the rest of this story. Sakura is here to provide some needed exposition, as well as to help show Naruto's imprisonment in Sound from an "outsider's" perspective.**

**REVIEW CORNER**** Thanks for Reviewing: **Narutopokefan, moon maiden of time

**Thanks to everyone who's been reading this story and leaving me reviews. It really does motivate me to write more of this. So remember to feed your author and review! **


	8. Chapter 8 Sakura Part 3

**Author's Note****: And we're back! Now that my midterms are over and I've had a nice, long week off from school, I'm throwing adult responsibilities to the wind in order to bring you another chapter of **_**Flamethrower**_**! :D**

**This story is still being cross-posted to my AFF account, **LostinThought8**. The link is in my profile.**

**As promised, this is the end of Sakura's story, and some aspects of Naruto's backstory have become clearer with its' telling. The next chapter will be focusing on the boys again, and Sakura will be playing a more minor role in the rest of the fic.**

**DISCLAIMER****: I don't own **_**Naruto**_**, and I am not in any way affiliated with the people who do. I make no money off of writing this fic; it is purely for my enjoyment (and hopefully yours too.)**

**WARNINGS****: Language, blood, rampant human rights abuses, use of guns and other weapons, body horror, torture, imprisonment, and very unethical scientific experiments.**

** Now, onto the story!**

* * *

The first place I was taken to was a communal bath, a huge room where a group of people – workers, maybe, or prisoners like myself – were washing themselves in a large pool of water that took up almost the whole large room. I was given a rough little shove in the direction of the water. "Clean yourself, you smell like shit," one of the guards barked out at me. I was fully aware that I was dirty, since there aren't too many opportunities for a bath when you've been traveling through the wilderness for weeks. Even though everyone else was naked, I was embarrassed about taking my clothes off under the sharp, prying eyes of the guards around the entrance, all of whom were male. So I washed and dried myself as best I could with my clothes on, as silly as that may seem. I tried to talk to some of the others in the bath, and ask them just what the fuck was going on in this horrible place. Some of them shushed me with quick, nervous glances towards the guards. Others just ignored me completely, mechanically going through the task of washing themselves. Their faces and eyes seemed expressionless and empty of all feeling. It was as if their bodies were still alive, but everything inside had withered away long ago. These people scared me. I didn't want to think about what sorts of things could turn a person into something so dull and lifeless.

After I'd gotten out of the bath, the guards marched me to a large storage room where I was given a clean shirt, pants, and a new pair of shoes. Although I was loath to admit it, I was grateful for the new clothes. My old ones had been patched and mended and washed so many times by now that they were becoming threadbare and gray.

I was then taken to a room filled with long wooden tables and benches, where I was told to wait in line for someone to ladle a thin, unappetizing gruel into a bowl for me. It was awful, but I ate it anyway. You learned not to be picky about food after living during a famine. Groups of guards patrolled around the room as I ate, their harsh gazes effectively silencing any possible conversation. The air around me was thick with feelings of fear and anxiety. I couldn't help feeling relieved after I finished eating and a pair of guards appeared to take me somewhere else.

Then the work began, and the purpose of this place was made clear to me.

* * *

Even hell had a routine, and mine was quickly laid out during the next few weeks. Every morning, I was woken up and marched off by guards, along with a group of other workers, to the bath and the eating room, which one of the guards called a _cafeteria_. None of us so much as met eyes as we went. Most people, including me, looked down at our feet the whole time.

After eating, the guards took me and around ten others down several flights of stairs to the compound's lowest levels, where Kabuto kept his human test subjects locked up. I still have no idea exactly what Kabuto and the people who worked with him were studying exactly. Only that it involved taking people and _changing _them, somehow twisting their bodies and minds into something strange and terrifyingly unnatural.

It was my job to give each of Kabuto's human guinea pigs in the part of the prison I'd been assigned to a daily "checkup," for lack of a better word. I was supposed to measure each prisoner's height with a tape measure, and take their temperatures with a small glass thermometer. I also had to prick them with a needle, and deposit a small sample of their blood into a neatly labeled glass vial. All of this, along with my observations on the person's bodily health and behavior, was to be written down and brought to Kabuto's office at the end of the day, along with the blood samples. Everything I needed to do this was given to me in a cloth satchel beforehand, and taken away again at the end of the day.

All of the people Kabuto experimented on were kept in underground, in a place filled with the same narrow, twisting pathways as the main complex aboveground. But where the aboveground area was filled with old technology from Before, this subterranean prison had no special amenities. The whole place seemed to have been carved out of rough, lumpy stone, and so I always had to walk carefully, making sure not to trip and break my ankle. The air was always ice cold, biting right through my thin clothing, and sending shivers up my spine. Small glass lanterns were hung along intervals in the walls, casting an eerie, flickering play of light and shadows across the walls.

The prisoners themselves were kept in tiny cells with thick, sturdy metal bars. Each cell was bare save for a rough pile of blankets on the floor for sleeping, a foul-smelling hole in the corner for…personal business, and a stone basin filled with water. Food was given once or twice a day, and prisoners ranged from leaving their meals virtually untouched, to practically gnawing their bowls in half in an attempt to get more sustenance.

The prisoners themselves varied. Some of them spent their time slumped lethargically in a corner of their cell, their eyes glazed over, and didn't so much as make a peep or raise a hand in protest as I checked them over. Others ranted and raved wildly and I would have to spend several minutes calming them down so that I could start my examinations. Still others were violent and lashed out at me. Some of the worst ones seemed to be barely more than animals with mad looks in their eyes, biting and clawing at me the second I appeared at their cell doors, spittle dripping from their snarling mouths. Sometimes I would have to call for the guards, who would come in and hold the person down for me. There were plenty of cases where either the guards or, more often, the prisoner got hurt during these exams. Somehow, I always managed to get out unscathed, even if I had to knock the prisoner out to do so.

That wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was seeing what Kabuto had done to them. I saw people with all kinds of oozing lacerations and burn marks, or covered all over in lumps of thick, pinkish scar tissue. Some had their bodies or faces burned or disfigured in horrible ways, with their facial features and limbs shriveled to tiny wrinkled nubs or swollen to grotesque proportions. Some seemed to be missing various body parts, or worse, had somehow sprouted _extra _body parts. I once saw a man with what seemed to be five arms sticking out of him, curled up on the floor of his cell and moaning with pain. Others appeared to have been turned inside out, with their guts sprouting from their backs and abdomens.

I never asked anyone what Kabuto had done to these people. I didn't want to know. In a place like that, you learned to keep your head down and not ask questions if you wanted to stay sane.

Even worse than tending to Kabuto's collection of captive, broken human beings was being forced to assist at one of his surgeries. I was one of the lucky ones, in that he only asked for my assistance twice. My job was to monitor the vital signs of whatever poor bastard he was cutting open, and to hand over surgical instruments when Kabuto asked for them. He showed no empathy whatsoever for the people he was torturing. He seldom used any kind of medicine to induce unconsciousness or dull the pain. The bastard cut deeply into his victims, moving and poking their innards around, or pouring strangely colored and bubbling concoctions into them. He seemed to enjoy it when his captives screamed and cursed at him. I guess he must have liked having power over them, the sick bastard.

Sometimes the poor man or woman would simply die on the operating table. In such cases Kabuto would get annoyed, and call for the guards to carry the body out while he washed up. I would be left to stand there, staring at the bloodstains left behind in horror, until someone came to take me to my room.

The faces of his victims, contorted with agony as they strained and struggled against their bonds, haunted me for weeks after an operation. But the screaming was the worst part. I doubt that any demon in Hell could cause a person to scream with as much agony as Kabuto caused to those poor people. The sound of it haunted my dreams at night, often causing me to wake up screaming myself. I still have nightmares about it, sometimes…

The only thing that kept me going was my determination to escape. I didn't want to die in a place like this, where nobody would ever find out what happened to me. If I kept my wits about me and didn't bring attention to myself, I knew –or fervently hoped, anyway - that I'd find a way to escape.

I found that escape in the form of Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

After a few months, I was reassigned to a different part of the building, where Kabuto kept his important experiments. These were people who had managed to weather his torture, and showed some sort of physical or emotional change Kabuto wished to study further. They were the test subjects who showed the most promise, and so weren't as expendable as the prisoners I had previously been examining. As such, they had better living conditions. They were still kept in cells with heavy iron bars, but the cells were larger and much cleaner, with the same smooth, shiny floors as the upper stories did. The food was of better quality and came more frequently, and the water was given in clean washbasins. There were separate areas for the toilet, too, which didn't stink as badly.

The prisoners formed a more stable group, as well. I was less likely to walk into a cell and find a completely new person in there, which was something that happened on practically a weekly basis with the others. They weren't violent, either. Almost all of the people I examined were the quiet, dead-eyed kind that most people who had been here a long time seemed to become. It was terribly unnerving, but it made my job easier, at least.

Naruto was one of the prisoners on that floor.

I knew he was different from the moment I saw him. Except for the weird spiral tattoo on his stomach and the whisker-shaped scars on his cheeks, Naruto looked like a normal person. He was the only one on that floor who did – even the prisoners who didn't have an obvious physical change were like dead people who just hadn't stopped breathing yet. The first time I came into his cell, he looked up at me with those big blue eyes of his and I stopped dead in the entrance. Those eyes were unlike any I'd ever seen, not in here or in the world beyond. They were filled with so much life and energy and fierce emotion, it felt as if they cut right through me.

After a moment, he smiled slightly. 'Hi," he said. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

I just stared at him. This was the first time in months someone besides a guard had actually spoken to me. And when the guards spoke, it was only to bark out orders.

"Well, come on then," Naruto said. He leaned back slightly on the bench he was sitting on and folded his arms up behind his head. "You have to give me a checkup, right? All the other nurses do."

I checked Naruto over mechanically, not daring to believe that anyone in here could possibly have kept sane, nevertheless had the ability to speak and act like a normal person. The entire time I was there, Naruto kept up an endless stream of chatter, telling me about what he'd eaten that day, and what he'd thought about. He asked me all sorts of questions as well, like what my name was, and how long I'd been here for, and where I'd learned my medical skills. I probably would have found this annoying under normal circumstances, but here I welcomed the sound of a friendly voice.

"Sakura," I said, as I stood up to leave Naruto's cell. "My name is Haruno Sakura."

An ear-splitting grin appeared on Naruto's face when I told him my name. "It's good to meet you, Sakura-chan. I'm really glad someone like you is here."

"Why is that?" I asked. "Haven't you talked to any of the other nurses here?"

Naruto shook his head. His smile shrank and turned sad. "No. You're the only one I've met who's still alive on the inside and wants to stay that way. No one else here gives a damn."

"I could say the same thing about you," I said. Looking into his eyes, I could tell right away that Naruto had been alone for a very long time. My heart ached for him. More than that, though, I felt a strange kinship with this boy. Like me, he was a prisoner here, with no way of getting out in the foreseeable future. Yet he still refused to let this place break him.

Before I'd even fully thought through what I was doing, I was sitting next to Naruto on the bench and gently taking one of his hands in both of mine. He looked up at me, confused and more than a little wary. I smiled reassuringly at him. "What do you say we be friends?"

The confusion in Naruto's eyes was replaced once more with that huge smile. His entire face seemed to light up, in fact. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Friends."

* * *

By this time, I had been a prisoner for long enough that the guards didn't bother following me around from cell to cell anymore to make sure that I was doing my job. Having realized that I wasn't going to make trouble for them – or rather, had realized the futility of making trouble in this place – they simply waited at the end of the main corridor, near one of Kabuto's operating rooms, for me to hand in my written reports and blood samples. Unless I explicitly called for help with a difficult prisoner, I was left alone to do my work. This ended up working to my advantage, as I wouldn't have been able to talk with Naruto at all if guards had been breathing down my back. As it was, I didn't allow myself any more than half an hour for conversation. The guards would come to check on me for sure if I took too long on my rounds, after all.

Naruto quickly became the one bright spot I had in that miserable, dark place. I always made a point of coming to him last, so that I had something to look forward to after caring for everyone else. He saved me from becoming an emotionless husk like everyone else in Kabuto's prison. I came to enjoy the way he visibly brightened up when I came through his cell, and how he could always make me laugh with stories of his family and childhood. Naruto's smile, though, was the thing I liked most about him. Seeing it felt like a bright sunbeam on my face after a cold, hard night. I carried the feeling of it with me all the way back to my room at night, and thinking of it helped keep my nightmares at bay.

One day, when Naruto joked that he'd do just about anything for a packet of ramen, I told him about the food I was served twice a day in the cafeteria. "It's always the same, lumpy gray porridge in the morning and watery soup in the evening. There's no point in trying to figure what's in it; it tastes awful either way. I just gulp it down as fast as I can so I don't have to think about how bad it is."

Naruto frowned slightly. "Wow, that sucks Sakura-chan. Kabuto should really feed his workers better. You are doing something for him, after all, even if you don't want to."

He bent down close to my face then, his eyes quickly flitting from left to right as he checked for any prying eyes nearby. "You know," he whispered, "there's a supply closet about halfway down the hall, near the cell with the girl who has claws for feet. The last time they took me outside the door was opened a crack, and I saw shelves of food inside. If you wanted to, I bet you could sneak in there and steal something good." He straightened up and winked at me. "Go check it out."

I could only wonder at this strange boy, who had been a prisoner here for much longer than I'd been, but was still doing his best to help me. After leaving Naruto, I looked for the closet. Sure enough, there was a large, thick wooden door next to the cell Naruto had told me about. The lock on it was flimsy, and it broke easily after I applied some firm pressure to it. The room inside was larger than I'd thought, and a single lightbulb dangling from a string on the ceiling illuminated a veritable treasure trove.

There were floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked full of all kinds of preserved meat and vegetables, including the little paper packets of easily cooked spiced noodles called ramen that Naruto had professed a liking for. Boxes on the floor held clothes and various medical supplies. Dried medicinal herbs hung all along the walls. A room like this had enough supplies in it for a large group of people to travel comfortably for several months, at least. And it was all just sitting here, in a dusty old closet with a flimsy lock on the door.

The gears in my head started turning so fast, I could practically hear them whirring. The biggest obstacle standing between myself and freedom was that all of my traveling gear and food had been taken from me when I was taken prisoner. All I had were literally the clothes on my back. But this supply closet was so big that if I just took a few things from it a time, for a few weeks, and found a place to hide the stuff, I could get enough together to last at least until I was able to get out of Sound Country.

However, all the supplies in the world wouldn't help me if I didn't know how to get out. I'd been trapped here for at least several months, maybe even a year. (It was hard to tell, when I hadn't been outside since I'd arrived). The facility seemed to be made entirely of twisting, labyrinthine corridors, both above and below ground. Each hallway looked identical to the next. I didn't have the faintest idea where a door leading outside would be.

But maybe Naruto did. He'd been trapped here for longer than I had, surely he knew more about the place's layout. It would take a little longer, but I could manage to steal enough for the both of us. Besides, I really had to come to think of him as a friend. Despite his own limited power, Naruto had done his best to cheer me up and help me survive. I couldn't just leave him to rot in his cell.

I made up my mind - Naruto and I were definitely getting the hell out of here, and soon.

* * *

The next day, I sneaked into the supply closet before visiting Naruto, and went into his cell with a determined mind and a satchel full of food and water. "Naruto," I said. "You and I are escaping."

He stared at me with his mouth half-open, uncomprehending. "What?" Was the first thing he said. "Right now? What are you talking about, Sakura-chan?"

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes Naruto could be annoyingly slow on the uptake. "Not right _now_. I need to get supplies first, and I have to do it slowly or else I'll get caught. When I have enough, I'm leaving this place and you're coming with me."

"I – I can't." Naruto's eyes lowered.

"You…what?" I hadn't expected to hear that. I'd thought Naruto would be ecstatic at the thought of getting out. I certainly hadn't imagined him as he was now, shoulders hunched together and studying a spot on the floor with great interest. "Why not?"

"I'm a monster, Sakura-chan. As long as I stay locked up in here…" He looked up at me again, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "…Then I won't be able to hurt anyone."

"That's bullshit," I said. Now Naruto was the one who looked surprised. "Naruto, I must have checked you over a hundred times by now. There is _nothing _wrong with you."

"You don't understand - "

"No buts." I gave him my harshest look, the one that left no room for objections or arguments, only softening my voice when I knew I had his attention. "Look, I know that you must have been through some awful shit here. You've spent half of your life in this hellhole. But none of that matters, because you're my _friend_, Naruto. I don't let my friends sit in prison cells to rot. You're coming with me, even if I have to drag you out of here myself."

The next moment, Naruto had leapt up and was gripping me in a tight hug. I was a bit shocked, but gently returned the embrace all the same. "Thank you, Sakura-chan. You don't know what this means to me," he said softly.

"Hey now, don't think you're getting a free ride here," I said as I gently extricated myself from the hug. "You still need to help me plan. Whatever happens next, we're in this together, as a team." We'd have to be, or else we were both dead.

And plan we did, for the next several weeks. Naruto told me that he was let outside once a week for fresh air and exercise. These excursions were strictly limited to the facility's yard and were closely monitored by heavily-armed guards, but that didn't stop Naruto from figuring out that he was taken in and out through a small door at the back of the operating room on this floor. The very place where I dropped off my reports, in fact.

"Well, Kabuto's never in there when I go to drop off my reports for the day," I said. "But there's always guards outside, and I don't know how we're going to get past them. I don't think I could even take down one of those big guys, let alone a whole group."

"Not a problem." Naruto's eyes shone brightly with determination. Nowadays, he seemed even more eager than I was to escape. "How many are there?"

"Um…I'd say about three or four. And aren't you being a little too relaxed about this? They have guns, you know."

"Just let me take care of it, Sakura-chan. Don't worry." He clapped me on the shoulder in what was meant to be a casual, reassuring gesture, but I could feel a tension in him all the same.

Our conversations were full of planning now, as we discussed and fine-tuned our escape over and over again. I found myself lying awake at night well after the candle in my room had sputtered out, going over every possible thing that could go wrong and how we'd get out of it. The two of us took inventory time and time again, making absolutely sure that we had enough stuff to last until we were out of Sound Country. By the time we were ready to leave, I had stolen everything from knapsacks to a fresh set of clothes for us both, hiding it all under a loose floor tile in Naruto's cell.

On the day we escaped, I was tense as a wire with nerves. Either Naruto and I would get out alive today, or we'd be killed. Anyone Kabuto saw as making trouble was dragged away kicking and screaming by the guards, never to be seen again. Images of the two of us being gunned down as we fled haunted my mind as I was marched down to my section of the prison.

I went immediately to Naruto's cell. He was waiting and ready for me, dressed in the clothes I had stolen for him, our two knapsacks already packed and on the floor at his feet.

"Couldn't wait to get out of here, huh?" I grinned at him as I slung my knapsack over my shoulders, relishing the familiar weight of traveling supplies once more.

"You have no idea. All I want is to get far, far away from this place."

"Ditto."

The two of us walked quickly and quietly to the end of the corridor, our bodies tensed and ready for trouble, and all of our senses on high alert. Just around the corner was a small group of guards, talking amongst themselves as they drank homemade liquor that smelled like piss. Naruto leaned in and whispered softly, "Wait here, Sakura-chan. Don't look or do anything that might attract attention. I'll signal you when it's clear."

I nodded and pressed my back against the wall as Naruto darted out. There were some muffled choking noises, and part of a surprised shout that was quickly cut off. After a few minutes, I heard a quiet voice say, "You can come out now, it's safe."

I rounded the corner and gasped at the sight of all four guards, all of whom burly men a good foot or two taller than Naruto, lying in an unconscious heap in the middle of the floor. Naruto tossed me one of their pistols and some ammo, while he pocketed a handgun. "Naruto…how…?"

"Come on, we don't have a lot of time before someone finds these guys." He grabbed my hand, and we raced through the door of Kabuto's office. The door leading outside was only a few feet in front of us. Once we got through it, according to Naruto, we only had to run across a short strip of lawn and wriggle out under the fence, and we'd be free. For the first time, I dared to hope that it would really be that simple, that Naruto and I could really get out of here with no one noticing until we were already beyond their reach -

"Going somewhere?" One of the chairs near the door swiveled around. Seated in it was Kabuto, wearing a tiny little smirk like a cat who'd just caught a little bird. Or two birds, in this case. He was holding a gun which he pointed at our heads. "Take one more step and I'll blow both of your brains out."

We stopped, obviously. Naruto's back stiffened, and he put his body between Kabuto and me. "You'll have to kill me to get to her," he hissed. His voice was deep and trembled with rage.

Kabuto threw his head back and laughed, as if Naruto had just told an amusing joke. The lights overhead reflected off of his glasses, turning his eyes into bright, inhuman discs. "Oh Naruto-kun," he said, "you make it sound like it's her I'm after."

"What – "

Kabuto moved faster than I'd thought him capable of. Before I could even blink, he'd risen from his chair and landed a solid punch right in Naruto's stomach. Naruto gave a short cry of pain and fell to his knees, letting go of my hand in order to wrap his arms around his middle.

I reached out in panic and grabbed the first thing I could lay my hands on, which luckily happened to be one of the knives Kabuto used to cut people open during his "operations." It made for a flimsy weapon, but hopefully I could land a hit that would distract the bastard long enough for me to grab Naruto and make a run for it. "Don't come any closer!" I yelled, holding the surgical knife out in front of me.

Kabuto chuckled again, and I swung out. He caught my wrist and squeezed so hard I felt the bones grind together. I cried out and dropped the knife, which clattered to the floor at my feet. I tried to punch him with my free hand, but he sidestepped and gave me a hard shove, causing me to stumble back a step and fall right on my ass.

The smile on Kabuto's face was terrible as he rested the muzzle of his gun against my head. Naruto was back on his feet now, but didn't dare move for fear of causing Kabuto to shoot. I couldn't breathe. It felt like the whole world had stopped around us. All I could focus on was the cold metal of the gun pressed to my temple, and the terrible look of raw fury in Naruto's eyes.

"Naruto-kun, you've been a bad boy lately. Did you think I'd stopped paying attention to you? That I wouldn't notice you were getting too chatty with one of the nurses?" Kabuto reached out with his free hand and grabbed a handful of my long pink hair, gripping it tightly and using it to pull me into a kneeling position. I cried out as pain seared through my scalp. "Well, I was planning on killing your trouble-making little friend today, anyway. That you are here to witness it as well is an added bonus for me."

I couldn't think from the pain searing through my scalp. Reflexively, my hands scrabbled against the floor, and by chance brushed up against cool metal. It was the surgical knife Kabuto had made me drop. My fingers closed around it and I brought it up towards Kabuto's hand.

"Exactly what do you think you're going to do with that little toy, my dear? Even if you do manage to stab me, it won't prevent you from dying, you know." Kabuto's voice was syrupy and patronizing, as if he was speaking to a very small child who didn't know any better.

_"Sakura dear, you really should cut your hair. It's impractical for you and Ino to wear it out long like this." _My mother's voice echoed through my head as I brought the knife forward. I knew what I had to do.

"I wasn't…aiming for you…you son of a bitch!" I choked out through the pain, as I brought the knife sweeping through my hair in one clean stroke. Strands of pink fell around me like flower petals in the springtime, high up in the mountains of Earth Country. Kabuto snarled in anger at suddenly finding himself with a useless handful of my hair.

As I rolled away from him, Naruto charged forward with an angry roar, and…

* * *

"And?" Tsunade prompted. Sakura had fallen silent and refused to meet the Hokage's eyes, staring down at her own lap instead. By the way she was nervously biting her lip, Tsunade could tell that Sakura had stopped herself from saying something important. But what was it?

Sakura blinked, slightly startled at hearing another voice after only hearing her own for over an hour. "And…that's it, Tsunade-sama. I'd distracted Kabuto enough so that Naruto was able to knock him out, and then we ran for it. We weren't able to rest easy until we were safely out of Sound Country."

"Are you sure that's all?" Tsunade said gently. There had to be more to the story than Sakura was telling, but she didn't wish to force it out of the girl. Sakura had already talked herself hoarse, trusting Tsunade with something she clearly had not divulged to anyone else. The Hokage knew that it would be wrong to betray that trust. Better to focus now on finding Naruto and Sasuke, and getting what information she could out of them.

"Alright," Tsunade said gently. She reached out and gently laid a hand on Sakura's shoulder, causing the girl to look up at her. "Thank you, Sakura, for trusting me with something as important as this. I promise, neither I nor anyone else in Konohagakure will use what you have told me against you or Naruto." The Hokage smiled reassuringly, then turned her sharp amber gaze to the back of the room, where Shizune, Neji, and Hinata had been standing quietly.

"Neji, Hinata!" The two cousins, who had been listening quietly with Shizune at the back of the room, snapped to attention "Take Sakura to the room at the end of the hall where Ino and Shikamaru are waiting. Get her a cup of tea, if we have it."

"Yes, ma'am." The two chorused as they led Sakura out of the room.

Shizune took up her usual position beside Tsunade's desk. "Tsunade-sama," she said quietly, "it took a lot of digging, but I was able to find a file concerning the Uchiha family that wasn't part of the official report on the Uchiha Massacre. The Sandaime himself wrote it."

Tsunade didn't say anything to this, only leaned forward and crossed her arms over her desk. Her brow was furrowed in what Shizune knew was intense concern.

"It does concern Uchiha Sasuke in particular," she added, and with that she had Tsunade's complete attention.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place, Shizune! Bring it here." The Hokage rested her head in her hands. "I hope Lee is able to find Naruto and Sasuke soon…and I hope _somebody _in this place manages to find some good alcohol soon, too! Damn, is questioning people hard work."

* * *

**Author's Note****: This is the last part of Sakura's story. I could have broken it up into two smaller chapters, admittedly, but this had already dragged on longer than I wanted it to. This is also the most focus Sakura will be getting for the rest of the story. In the next chapter we return to the boys, and start getting more relationship development too.  
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**REVIEW CORNER**** Thanks for Reviewing: **Yuki Tsunade, Narutopokefan, Eisfuchs, kookiezncream

**Let's hope it won't be over two months before the next chapter comes out. I'll try to make it so. :) **


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